Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Massacre Of Two Virginia CBS TV Journalists ( Warning, Disturbing Video) UPDATE: Shooter Worked At KPIX; UPDATE 2: Flanagan, Alleged Shooter Was In Process of Selling Home in Oakland



THIS video will be discussed en masse today...as it should. But frankly, I'm not surprised this hasn't happened much more frequently. 

It's disturbing, its frightening as all get-go and really tough to watch, but I think it needs to be seen.

UPDATE 1: The alleged shooter worked at KPIX

UPDATE 2: The shooter, Vester Flanagan, was apparently in the process of selling a home in Oakland.

78 comments:

  1. At some point this country has to address the huge problem we have with guns. We can't say there is nothing we can do as there are already too many guns out there. I couldn't care less about the stupid 2nd amendment. Change it. It will be hard to do, but we need to pass laws like they have done in Australia.

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    1. @7:53
      As you may have noticed, 8:22 illustrates how Americans simply wring their hands in mock concern over yet another gun tragedy and then carry on as usual.

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    2. The way we've done it in our family is just to raise your kids properly. Don't be a lazy parent. Some outlier screwball shouldn't singlehandedly destroy normal people's freedoms.

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    3. Only the perpetrator of the crime should be the one to suffer the consequences. If he is capable of taking normal people's freedoms away, he has way too much power and that's what he's looking for: power. Millions of other people shouldn't be made to suffer because of one aberrant wacko.

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    4. If my parents gave me the first name of "Vester", I would go looking for them first.

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    5. We do seem to have an awful lot of outlier screwballs.

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    6. 9:31 wrings his/her hands over the millions of lives taken each year due to abortion or tobacco related illness.

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    7. I think you've been watching too much television.

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    8. Guns are not the problem. Not enforcing the laws on the books is one of the problems. Another problems is not following up on the many reports of individuals like this unhinged entity making threats or otherwise intimidating people, because THEY feel "harassed".

      Enforce the current laws, don't take civil rights away from law abiding citizens. (And yes, the 2nd Amendment IS a civil right!)

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  2. We like to think that a microphone in hand or a viewfinder at your eye were shields from violence. These folks were in a suburban shopping area doing a chamber of commerce story. They weren't in a war zone. They weren't in gang territory. We like to think we observe the violence and it's aftermath. We're wrong and too often these days, we're the targets.

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  3. Unbelievable. I said it before, we live in an uncivilized society. We're fooling ourselves to think otherwise. I'm hearing this may have been a disgruntled employee. Just goes to show that postal workers are not the only ones to take out their anger with former employers. I'm concerned though about copycats. The thugs in the street that are brazen enough to steal media equipment or the aholes who yell F her in the P. Wonder when this video makes its way to some nutcase who thinks this is a cool way to get some publicity and makes the electronic media a shooting target. Feel sorry for the families of those killed. What a tragedy.

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  4. Some ex-employee went postal, they say.

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    1. He had file some kind of wrongful termination suit.

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  5. Replies
    1. Back under your rock, little troll.

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    2. @9:33=sheeple.

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    3. @9:33 + Mindy Tokuda = Treeple

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    4. 9:33, you are the one expressing yourself as a "troll".

      And yes, Obama and Holder HAVE fostered and environment where this sort of thing is happening more and more.

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  6. Stop beating your collective breasts about how "uncivilized" modern society is, please. This was a case, apparently, as old as human history of a jilted boyfriend, insecure in his own masculinity, getting his revenge.. It's hideous, of course, but not due to "thugs in the street", or "terrorism" or the second amendment.

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    1. Christine, who said thugs in the street did it? Or that a terrorist did it? You are the one making erroneous statements, calling the killer a jilted boyfriend. Where is the friggin proof of that? No wonder you are not on the air anymore. Get your facts right.

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    2. Christine, please don't beat your ample breasts.

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    3. This black on white crime has to stop. #Whitelivesmatter

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    4. Once again Christine Craft pulling information out of her old, deflated ass: "jilted boyfriend", "insecure in his own masculinity"? Did you know Vester personally? Hell, why don't you also say that Vester finally snapped after going through life with the name Vester. That could make a man snap.

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    5. Christine, just shut your fucken hole, would you? Please? Forever?

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    6. It sounds like Christine was correct on the ex-boyfriend thing.

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    7. Why, given the history of many, many workplace shootings in this country, does a shooting/killing which happens in the media workplace become more horrible than any other?

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    8. @german: I'm reading and watching several reports live and NO ONE has said anything about the perpetrator being a "jilted boyfriend". All reports indicate he had anger issues, was escorted out of the newsroom under police guard when he was fired in 2013 and that he had filed an EEOC complaint.

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    9. Am I the only regular visitor to this blog who's sick of the same tiny handful of "men," who are continually personally assassinating Christine Craft?? Christine could come on here and cite verbatim a passage from the U.S. Constitution, and you cowardly little boys would find something to anonymously criticize about it.

      Why don't you marginally-endowed, little lads go beat your misogynistic meat elsewhere? Christine has as much right to share her views here as you insecure immature clowns do. Have you ever heard of freedom of speech? Or does that only apply to hate-mongering trolls like you these days?

      Even though I don't agree with everything that Christine says, at least she has the courage to put her name to her views. That's more than I can say for you miserable, misogynistic, cowardly, adolescent asshats!!

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    10. Did you watch, 11:26..the shooter's video and audio? Did you hear the part where he targets her, while saying sotto voce, "bitch"?

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    11. "Why, given the history of many, many workplace shootings in this country, does a shooting/killing which happens in the media workplace become more horrible than any other?"

      Perhaps because this was recorded and seen on live TV. What is it that you don't grasp about this tragic, out-there-for-all-to-see abomination???

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    12. So in Christine's mind, the fact that the perp calls Alison a "bitch" before shooting her means that he was a "jilted boyfriend"? He posted on twitter that Alison made racist comments. Come on Christine, we try to take you seriously but it is tough when you make up stuff!

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    13. Del Thomas @11:18

      I commend you for an articulate expression in defense of Christine but respectfully disagree.

      Christine is widely despised on this blog and elsewhere because of her obnoxious personality and no other reason. I'm not a misogynist but cannot stand Christine Craft. Everything she writes is all about herself. She is a preachy, self-important, know-it-all. No one likes her because she's just plain unlikable. This is how she defines herself, as being special because she's different.

      Yes, she is different but she sure as hell is nothing special.

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    14. Well...11:27, I'll bet I've done more live television than the average bear. Live television is not the be all and end all of existence, or some sort of sacred place. Lots of horrible things have happened on live television, typically not to reporters. (see history)It's stipulated(understood, agreed) that a workplace shooting is always tragic, horrible, etc. Did you watch the video/audio? Did you see a single drop of blood, or any gore? You assume that I don't grasp that the event was real . That's just silly.I'm interested in knowing why he was reported to the station's HR (by the now-deceased cameraman allegedly) before being fired.

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    15. So a gay black man as he called himself in the manifesto faxed to ABC News would be her ex-boyfriend? Christine, are you so insecure that you need to say anything to get attention?

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    16. "germancarsonlyAugust 26, 2015 at 9:39 AM

      It sounds like Christine was correct on the ex-boyfriend thing."

      Except he was gay.

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    17. @Del Thomas. I agree with you 100% But, Christine takes care of herself very well and I love that she doesn't back down.

      I said earlier it was maybe a relationship gone bad deal. From 6:00 AM to 9:00 or so there were reports it was a love triangle of some sorts. Now the story is changing to he was Gay.

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    18. Germancarguy berates folks who post negative comments (usually very fact based) comments regarding Christine, then goes on to make disparaging remarks about the physiques of those he is commenting about.

      Well, you all know the difference between Porsches and porcupines, don't you?

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    19. Del Thomas, you're not the only one. Thank you for putting it out there.

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    20. I love that Christine is all natural.

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  7. "They say he (Rice Williams) was difficult to work with".

    Wow, I guess.

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  8. I just watched the video the killer took. I wish I hadn't.

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    1. What possessed you to watch it? The audio is bad enough. A good friend suffered from nightmares for a while after watching video of Saddam Hussein's hanging years ago.

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    2. I was about to, but shut it off before he opened fire. What good does it do to watch human misery at its worst? We know what happened - no need to voyeur death.

      ... and out of respect for the families - - shame on any news agency that feels the need to display the murderer's recording on their website. The newscast version is more than enough. I have no issue with it. But to show the actual shooting? That's going too far. It will be viewed by kids. No way! They see enough fake violence out of Hollywood.

      Sometimes professionalism means drawing an appropriate line. Most agencies will.

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    3. In that video, you can hear him as he targets her, say"Bitch". There is no actual gore or blood in the video. It's the age of modern media, the incident from the shooter's perspective gets seen by everyone, and tweeted as well. Was that done using his "smartphone"? Now there is much predictable discussion about banning people with mental illness from owning guns. Would you bar those with unverifiable disorders like "depression" and bi-polar disorder? This isn't a case of reporters doing dangerous work that puts them in harm's way, is it? Isn't it just another tragic workplace shooting?

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    4. Christine, I would think as a member of the media yourself that you would be far more responsible than to run with one of the many instant theories that pop up on the internet. There has been absolutely ZERO confirmation from any official source that he was a "jilted boyfriend". And it's since come out that in fact, he was gay, and his self-stated motive was to a large degree a sick, twisted, rebuttal to the Charleston murders, along with anger over what he felt were racist and homophobic incidents where he was the target.

      As for why this isn't just a tragic workplace shooting, to some degree I agree with you. This is being portrayed by some as evidence that media are being targeted and in more danger, but this had little to do with that. Though this isn't a workplace shooting because, well, it didn't occur in a typical workplace. It occurred out in public.

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    5. Well Greg, see meaning of word "apparently". That was an early take reported on the story since the perp had a record of sexual harrassment problems. In any event, this is the internet media blog,, filled with all things instant.
      If this young woman, felled suddenly, had made it to be a reporter in San Francisco, how do you think she would have been treated on this blog? Would her breasts have been rated for "perkiness", would her butt have been compared to Kardashian or Sharon Stone("a bag of flapjacks"). Riddle me that.

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    6. Christine, I'm not sure why you feel the need to be so sarcastic. I'm quite aware of the meaning of the word "apparently". The perp also had a history of accusations of racism, but you chose to run with what was essentially a rumor without any facts behind it.

      I'm not here to defend this blog, I agree with your general point that the sexism displayed is unprofessional and lessens the credibility of the other material. I'm just not sure what your comment about that has to do with my point.

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  9. TV News Lives Matter...
    Kumbia!

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  10. Was reading another comment thread and someone said that since it was a crazy black guy that killed white people, maybe Congress would finally do something about gun control. Salient point.

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    1. How about not always asking to have the 2nd Amendment repealed, and instead, asking to have the laws on the books enforced, including sentencing laws? No activist liberal judges setting criminals free because growing up they had it so "haaaaard"...

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  11. Chip Franklin has the answer (as usual)! Register ALL guns...now why didn't anyone else think of that?? Once again, Chippy proves his I.Q. and age are about equal.

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  12. What did he do at KPIX? Does anyone remember him?

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  13. Apparently his manifesto mentions that he had been attacked for being a gay, black man. I seriously doubt this means he was a "jilted boyfriend".

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-alleged-gunman-details-grievances-suicide-notes/story?id=33336339

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  14. We used to call these SNUFF films. Why are the families being subjected to such grief for no other reason but our 'entertainment'? Not just this website, but the major news outlets too. It used to be only newscasts from Mexico or South America would show so much.

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  15. Killer, Bryce William's suicide note makes it perfectly clear that Christine Craft was 100% wrong in what she wrote about the killer At 8:40 she wrote:

    "This was a case, apparently, as old as human history of a jilted boyfriend, insecure in his own masculinity, getting his revenge.."

    This turns out to be entirely false. As the suicide note states, Williams was a gay man who had no romantic connection to the victims. Christine was COMPLETELY WRONG and yet argued vociferously that her unfounded claim was correct.

    Wonder how she'll explain her colossal mistake.

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    1. Reread what I wrote. I said "apparently". The earliest reporting suggested exactly that. In fact, we now know from the reporting about the treatise he sent to ABC, that he had complaints involving sexual harrassment. Perhaps that explains the earlier reporting. Once again, capitalization is not writing.

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    2. Instead of providing an answer to her lack of journalistic process, she falls back on her usual response, berating your grammar/punctuation/style-sheet usage.

      Christine, maybe you'd be happier if you could get a job as a copyeditor somewhere.

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  16. Drag KPIX into it.
    No class Lieberman.

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    1. Maybe Lieberman was trying to give KPIX an "identity" he says they didn't have.

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    2. Mentioning his ties to the Bay area and KPIX are totally valid points. Journalism 101 teaches you to update and localize. Rich has every reason to mention it, even KPIX said he worked for them. Although I'm sure reluctantly.

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    3. 4:02, you're a retard.

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  17. Christine is unbelievable, TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE. She proved it today.

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  18. Ms Craft, if "initial reports" had alleged that he was Trumps gay lover, would you have run with that and defended it so vociferously?

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    1. see thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/08/26/3695487/tv-journalist-shooter-id/
      quoting:" Sources initially indicated also the shooter is an ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, presumably Parker,though excerpts of a manifesto allegedly written by Williams indicates he felt discrimnation as a black man"
      I should have cited this for your comfort in addition to using, as I did, the word "apparently."
      For the record, when you use the word "apparently", you are not declaring something as fact.
      Nick above, thinks it's just as believable as Mr. Trump being this fellow's gay lover. I thought Mrs Trump(Melania Knauss) was the one who did the lesbian porn?

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    2. Christine Craft is never wrong about anything. Just ask her.

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  19. The common thread for many of these stories is mental illness. How about a serious discussion about that!

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    1. That's a good point. That bullet doesn't come out until some crazy person pulls the trigger.

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  20. too many ego freaks in one room equals carnage

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  21. The similarities between this piece of crap and ex-LAPD officer-turned-killer Chris Dorner (other than being gay) are astounding, from the homicidal narcissism, reveling in notoriety, lengthy manifestos, history of firings and subsequent complaints/lawsuits alleging "discrimination," their hatred toward white people, etc. No gun-control laws would prevented either of these tragedies, when you have an evil, resourceful, premeditating individual hellbent on "accomplishing their mission." Even if they'd failed a background check, someone with this mindset would have just gone to a street corner and paid $200 to a 14-year-old gang banger for a stolen gun. This was a terrible, disgusting tragedy, but unfortunately not a preventable one.

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  22. Why is Christine incapable of acknowledging that she was wrong? All her misguided claims about the motive for the killing were wrong but she's oblivious.


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    1. Sociopaths don't usually admit that they are wwwww-wwwwww-wwwwww-wwwwwww-wwwwwrooooooong....

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  23. I have posted on this site, more than once, the source of the original reporting about the shooter's relationships. Rich won't ;post it..I"ll try again..Here is is:
    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/08/26/3695487/tv-journalist-shooter-id?
    Quoting: Reports say he was a former employee of the station and used the name Bryce Williams on air. Sources indicated also the shooter is an ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, presumably Parker."
    that's why I said "apparently"...The story was updated throughout the day. This is a blog, right?

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  24. Two white individuals are dead. The murderer is black.
    And the Coward in the White House has not said a word.

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    1. President Obama spoke eloquently about it and about the gun issue.He said many words.

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  25. Saying many words is not eloquence.

    And what he did speak about was his gun control agenda, as he does whenever there is a tragedy involving a psychopath. Obama does not care for the families of those murdered, he cares only for his own agenda.

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  26. You'd have to be a real bottom feeder to watch the video, Not a journalistic decision. A decision based on if it will boost ratings make money gain advantage over competitors. This is the very definition of tabloid journalism.

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