ROANOKE, Va. – It was a horrific scene for viewers watching WDBJ’s live morning broadcast Wednesday morning.
Twenty-four-year-old reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old photographer Adam Ward were killed during a live news interview.
Hurst showed reporter Gabriella DeLuca a photo album Parker made him for their anniversary.
The suspect, who later turned the gun on himself, has been identified as a former WDBJ co-worker and reporter, 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, whose on-air identity was Bryce Williams.
Another woman was also injured during the shooting, Chamber of Commerce executive director Vicki Gardner. She is listed as stable after undergoing emergency surgery after she was shot in the back..
CBS 6 affiliate WTKR, in Norfolk, spoke with the main anchor Chris Hurst, who revealed that he and Parker were in a relationship.
Hurst showed reporter Gabriella DeLuca a photo album Parker made him for their anniversary.
He said Adam and Alison were a part of the station family and now a piece of that family is missing.
“This morning she had to get up a little extra early to go to Smith Mountain Lakes. I made her breakfast. I made her lunch. I sent her on her way. I had a habit of always wanting her to text me when she got to work safely. She did so and the last thing she said to me was ‘good night sweet boy’ and the next thing I know, I wake up to a phone call from the station telling me there had been a shooting that happened live on television and I needed to come to the station.”
Hurst then pulled out the photo album and detailed the sentimental value.
“These photos are just photos of her, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Someone I never thought would love me for me and she did. She is inside and out the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met and I was lucky enough to call her my girlfriend,” Hurst said.
He also spoke about the working relationship between Parker and Ward.
“They were out there nearly every day together as a team. And they were murdered together. It is still very difficult for me to rationalize what has happened,” Hurst said.
