Hours after a former broadcast journalist gunned down two ex-colleagues on live television and then killed himself in Virginia, the head of a San Diego TV newsroom Wednesday recalled hiring and firing the suspect 15 years ago at a station in Florida.
"It was shock — the hair on the back of my neck went up," San Diego 6 News Director Don Shafer said about the realization that he'd professionally supervised Vester Flanagan.
"It was an amazingly deja vu experience, like, a real holy-moly moment."
Flanagan, 41, opened fire on WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, as they were conducting a live interview outside Moneta, Virginia, according to police. The two journalists died at the scene.
A woman being interviewed by the victims was shot in the back. She underwent emergency surgery and was hospitalized in stable condition.
The suspect fled in his Ford Mustang, then turned his gun on himself after police confronted him on an interstate, authorities said.
The San Diego 6 news director said he hired Flanagan in 2000 at a station in Florida and severed his employment later that same year due to the reporter's inability to get along with co-workers.
"I know that there were some issues with him and his personality that kind of (spiraled) down, and that's why we had to get rid of him," Shafer said in an interview broadcast locally. "I don't want to say anything more about that, but ... I didn't see (a dangerous aspect) in his personality."
Flanagan had worked as a reporter at WDBJ for about a year using the on- air pseudonym Bryce Williams. He reportedly was fired from that station, as well. The reason for the termination has not been made public.
