People are going to be talking about
this for the next few days so I felt that I should write about it.
Recently at work someone asked me if I had heard about the Paris
train attack and I said no. When asked why I said “I try my best to
choose what I absorb.” What I mean by that is I barely watch the
news, don't care much for world issues, and the only things that I
pick up on are from social media or friends telling me. I'm
comfortably ignorant. I know some people will read that and sigh or
feel bad for me. Don't. This is a nice place to be. This post will be
about a shooting that was aired on live television. You probably shouldn't keep reading this if you're sensitive.
During a live on the scene broadcast at
6:45am WDBJ reporter Alison Parker who was 24 years old and 27 year old
cameraman Adam Ward a former employee of the news station Bryce
Williams aka Lester Flanagan walked up and shot and killed
them. The lady being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, was shot in the back
and as of this writing in surgery. Ward's fiancee was in the control
room when this happened and saw him shot.
Around 11:30am police spotted Flanagan
and when he was confronted shot himself. He is currently alive. He
shot himself after speeding away and crashing. Flanagan, who used the
Williams name on air, was fired two years ago but the reason was not
made public. “Two years ago, we had to separate him from the
company. We did understand that he was still living in the area”
said WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks. ABC News said that they got a
23 page fax from Flanagan which was handed over to investigators.
Again, this shooting was on live TV and
they cut back to the newsroom after it occurred. Later, Flanagan went
to his Twitter and Facebook pages to rant and post the video of the
shooting himself. Yes, I have watched both versions because I'm that guy. In it you see
him recording it on his pone, adjusting the angle, and then shooting
them before running.
This is all the information I know at
the moment and likely won't follow it up with anything because within
the next three days we'll have forest fires, another shooting of a
Black person, or a celebrity mishap to occupy our minds. In the
meantime we'll have people that are against guns but want Flanagan
killed talking. We'll have others defending their right to have guns.
Others that want stricter gun laws. Many that say they hate guns but
secretly own or want one.
I think everyone has gotten to use to
the attacks in the last ten years or so being religion or medication
based. Back in the 90's there was a term called “postal” that was
used after a series of shootings by post office employees.
Disgruntled employees. That's what this is. There's no mastermind
behind it. No god. Medication? Maybe. But which of you isn't on
something either for your sadness or acne? I feel bad for these
victims and anyone that loved them and this guy is just a bitch that
couldn't deal and two people paid with their lives while one was
injured. We'll all deal with this in whatever way we think works for
us. Prayer, protests, alcohol, discussions, blogs, articles, or
watching Guardians of the Galaxy for the 19th time.
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