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Roanoke, Va. • The woman who survived the on-air shooting that killed two TV journalists says she never saw the gunman walk up to the group because the camera's bright light blinded her.
Vicki Gardner, a chamber of commerce official, was answering questions about the community on live TV when the gunfire erupted. She was wounded as she fell to the floor after hearing the first gunshots, her husband said Friday.
The gunman, Vester Flanagan, ambushed WDBJ-TV cameraman Adam Ward and reporter Alison Parker during the interview Wednesday at the Smith Mountain Lake Visitor Center. Gardner is executive director of the resort area's chamber of commerce.
The first four shots were aimed at Parker, and two more were aimed at Ward, Gardner's husband, Tim, said in a telephone interview from the hospital where she is recovering. Then he fired at Gardner, though his first couple of shots missed her.
"And then when she dove down and got shot, he stopped shooting and took off," he said. "But she wasn't sure he was gone so she just laid there playing possum until first responders showed up."
Flanagan fired 17 shots from a Glock pistol, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Friday. The writings and evidence seized from Flanagan's apartment showed the man "closely identified" with people who have committed mass murders, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Parker and Ward died of gunshot wounds in the head and body. Vicki Gardner was shot in the back.
Flanagan shot himself to death after a police chase. Flanagan, a former reporter at WDBJ, was fired from the station in 2013 for poor performance and conflicts with co-workers, who said he was always claiming to be the victim.