By Aaron Ilia Merritt

On August 26 reporter and cameraman for WDBJ, a news station in Moneta, Virginia were shot and killed by a former reporter for the news station during a live broadcast.

Alison Parker, the reporter, and Adam Ward, the cameraman were the unlucky news crew in Moneta that morning. The two were interviewing Vicki Gardner, the  Executive Director of Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. Gardner was also shot, but not killed..

The gunman was a 41-year-old ex-reporter for the station who worked under the name of Bryce Williams.  It was later released that his real name was Vester Flanagan. Flanagan had been fired from WDBJ two years prior to shooting Parker and Ward. After the shooting Flanagan posted the video that he filmed himself to his Facebook and Twitter. Later, the shooter posted a video online just before he killed himself.

Alison Parker had just moved in with her boyfriend of nine months, Chris Hurst, who was shocked to hear that his girlfriend had been shot and killed on a live broadcast. He posted on his Twitter that, “We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married.We just celebrated her 24th birthday.” Hurst also posted a few more tweets about his relationship with Parker.

The shooting still has many in shock as more information about the case is released. Political debates as far as gun control are starting to break out with Parker’s father “vowing to keep the spotlight on guns and fight for gun control.”