On-air shooter threatened to make ‘headlines,’ had history of confrontation

Roanoke, Va. • On the day he was fired from a Virginia TV station, Vester Flanagan pressed a wooden cross into his boss' hand as two police officers walked him to the door. "You'll need this," he said.

More than two years later, Flanagan — fulfilling a threat to put his conflict with co-workers into "the headlines" — gunned down two station employees during a live morning broadcast, one of them a cameraman who had filmed his firing.

But as station employees struggled Thursday to explain the events that framed Flanagan's anger, others who had run across the gunman in the time since he lost his job at WDBJ-TV described a man whose hair-triggered temper was increasingly set off by slights that were more often imagined than real.

A former co-worker at a call center where he worked until late 2014 recalled how her off-hand comment that the often boisterous Flanagan was acting quiet led him to try to grab her by the shoulder, and tell her never to talk to him again.

At a bar in Roanoke, the manager recalled Flanagan was so incensed when no one thanked him as he left that he sent a nearly 20-page letter, lambasting employees' behavior.

As Flanagan encountered repeated tensions with others around him, he described himself as the aggrieved and unappreciated victim.

"How heartless can you be? My entire life was disrupted after moving clear across the country for a job only to have my dream turn into a nightmare," Flanagan wrote in a letter to a judge filed as part of his 2013 lawsuit against the television station. "Your Honor, I am not the monster here."

The lawsuit was dismissed in July 2014. But in recent weeks, Flanagan laid careful plans for retribution. He contacted ABC News about what he claimed was a story tip and filled his Facebook page with photos and video montages seemingly designed to introduce himself to a larger audience.

On Wednesday, Flanagan killed 24-year-old Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, while the two conducted a live interview for the station's morning broadcast, then went online to claim that they had wronged him in the past.

After the killing, Flanagan texted a friend suggesting he had "done something stupid," investigators wrote in a search warrant. He turned the gun on himself when police caught up to him a few hours later. Inside his rental car, investigators found extra license plates, a wig, shawl, sunglasses and a hat as well as some stamped letters and a "to do" list.

Colleagues of the journalists shot to death returned to their morning show Thursday, in a broadcast that opened with images of Parker and Ward.

"We come to you with heavy hearts. Two of our own were shot during a live shot yesterday morning," said Kim McBroom, the anchor whose shock was seen around the world Wednesday after Ward's camera recorded the attack.

Later, during an afternoon news conference, the station's general manager, Jeffrey Marks, recalled a series of problems with Flanagan while he worked at WDBJ from March 2012 to February 2013. Flanagan accused a news photographer of trespassing on private property. He filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as the lawsuit.

Flanagan's joking and smiling one minute could turn to anger in the next, a former colleague, Justin McLeod, said in an interview.

Once, seemingly out of nowhere, Flanagan told a photographer that he knew the man didn't like him because he was gay. The photographer responded by telling Flanagan that he had not even known, McLeod said.

But there was no inkling then or since of what was to come, Marks said. Former co-workers passed him from time to time. But none had any conversation with him, let alone confrontations.

Others who crossed paths with Flanagan during that time, though, recalled a man who took offense easily.

At WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Fla., where Flanagan worked in 1999 and 2000, he berated two female employees who pointed out mistakes in his reporting, bringing them to tears, said a former colleague, Dave Leval.

.Despite Flanagan's turbulent stint in Tallahassee, Leval said he was shocked when he heard the name mentioned as the Virginia shooter.

"He could have done this to us," Leval said.

Members of the WDBJ-TV7 news staff prepare for the early morning newscast at the station, in Roanoke, Va., early Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. A reporter and cameraman from the station were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, by a former colleague. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Members of the WDBJ-TV7 news staff prepare for the early morning newscast at the station, in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. A reporter and cameraman from the station were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, by a former colleague. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

WDBJ-TV7 meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner, right, wipes his eyes during the early morning newscast as anchors Kimberly McBroom, center, and guest anchor Steve Grant deliver the news at the station in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, while on assignment in Moneta. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, second from right, and meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner, right, are joined by visiting anchor Steve Grant, second from left, and Dr. Thomas Milam, of the Carilion Clinic, as they observe a moment of silence during the early morning newscast at the station, in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. The moment of silence was at the moment reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, while on assignment in Moneta. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, center, gets a hug from visiting anchor Steve Grant, left, as meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner reflects after their early morning newscast at the station, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, while on assignment in Moneta. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, left, hugs meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner after their early morning newscast at the station, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday, while on assignment in Moneta. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A television reporter does a stand up shot in front of a memorial for the two slain journalist in front of the studios of WDBJ-TV7 in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward from the station were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Dale and Edith Bryant, of Botetourt County, Va., look over a memorial for the two slain journalists in front of the studios of WDBJ-TV7 in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward from the station were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A Roanoke police cruiser keeps vigil in front of the studios of WDBJ-TV7 in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, a day after reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward from the station were killed during a live broadcast Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Members of the WDBJ-TV7 news staff prepare for the early morning newscast at the station, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed by a former colleague during a live broadcast Wednesday, while on assignment in Moneta. The balloons and flowers, at right, are addressed to Ward's fiancee, Melissa Ott, who was celebrating her last day at WDBJ on Wednesday, before moving to a station in North Carolina. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this image from video, WDBJ TV reporter Nadine Maeser hugs a man outside the station in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015. The colleagues of reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, two journalists shot to death on live television returned to the air Thursday with memories, tears and a determination to carry on their dedication to the news. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

This undated photo provided by WDBJ-TV, shows Vester Lee Flanagan II, who killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward in Moneta, Va., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Flanagan was a former employee at WDBJ who appeared on air as Bryce Williams. (WDBJ-TV via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Jeff Marks, general manager at WDBJ7, along with Kelly Zuber, news director, right, addresses the media about former employee, Vester Lee Flanagan II, known to viewers by his on-air name Bryce Williams, Thursday afternoon, Aug. 27, 2015, in front of the station's offices in Roanoke, Va. (Stephanie Klein-Davis/The Roanoke Times via AP) LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; SALEM TIMES REGISTER OUT; FINCASTLE HERALD OUT; CHRISTIANBURG NEWS MESSENGER OUT; RADFORD NEWS JOURNAL OUT; ROANOKE STAR SENTINEL OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

On-air shooter threatened to make ‘headlines,’ had history of confrontation

Virginia • Flanagan described himself as unappreciated victim.

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