DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... TV crew shot and killed

http://news.yahoo.com/two-virginia-television-journalists-fatally-shot-air-attack-130244085.html

As a photog at a local station in Virginia, this scares the crap out of me. This has always been one of my fears working in TV, and now it has come true.

I work in media as well here in town for the news.

the GM just said on TV "they were in love" referencing the Anchor and Camera man.. I have a feeling that had something to do with it.

wow that's scary.

In Bedford too.. my parents used to live there... such a small town place.

not sure tourists is going to visit that place after that scene.

What's up with that? Any motive, or just a random act?

http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-journalists-shot-killed-live-broadcast-130723506.html

Doesn't sound like a love triangle, just a disgruntled former employee. Both the reporter and camera man were involved with other station employees, not each other. Was the camera man's last day too. This link keeps getting updates posted to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/virginia-shooting-wdbj/index.html

Indeed, disgruntled employee. This article clears up the name issue. Had an on air name and his real name.

If you see the videos that the murderer posted on his twitter/facebook right after the incident, you'd be saddened.

He filmed himself shooting them, fled the scene, tweeted and posted stuff, and just shot himself on I-66

I think that's the common thread in all these "shootings". People looking to get one last bit of attention before they kill themselves. As others have suggested in previous shooting threads. We need to stop giving these guys their 15 minutes of posthumous fame, and the motives for these shootings will probably go away.

Another psycho making national headlines... super duper.

"take away and confiscate everyone's firearms" talk in 5...4...3...2

You posted this at 2:48. Hillary beat you to the punch:

https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton

I'm not a defender of Hillary's but all she said is that we must act to stop gun violence.... I assume some immediately assume that means gun control... but that's not what she said..

Is anybody against acting to stop gun violence?

It's a fair assumption to make given her outright public comments and battle with the NRA.

IMO, very fair. But I don't want to taint this thread with Hillary Clinton discussion...

I read a little of the shooter's suicide note, it's sickening. Just flat out sickening.

I think we need to work to stop any violence.

I'm n Roanoke this week for work - the office I'm at is about 1/2 mike from the airport where he picked up the rental car. He lived in an apartment complex several of my co-workers live.

I'm not against stopping ANY violence.

Now, you tell me what the plans would be to stop gun violence. We'll try those plans with rape, assault, etc.

Come on DC, you know full well what her aim is: pandering for votes.

What she said at what she means? Again, come on. Has Hillary ever spoken the truth?

Regardless, my posting her tweet was simply in response to Dawg LB.

I don't know what those plans would be.. but the "just don't take my guns" argument loses just a little bit of steam with each and every one of these high profile shootings...


Isn't pandering what politicians are supposed to do?


I'm pretty sure I know what she meant, exactly what you thought she meant... I was just pointing out thats not what she said.

Just as our first amendment Rights lose a little steam every time someone spews anti gun crap.

Is it the 'high profile' that bothers you, or the shooting itself? Personally, I saw a poor reporter that had no choice other than run away. Granted, this woman probably thought she'd never have to carry a gun to produce puff pieces for the local news.

A psychiatric exam every 5 years for all current and potential gun owners...

yea....it seems like everybody is getting these guns the legal way....which makes them law abiding citizens....until they are anymore.

Erik, I've stated many times that I'm a pro-second amendment person. The fact that it's high profile doesn't bother ME, but it does bother a lot of people. It makes it seem like people are being shot all over the place all the time.... which is what the gun control folks are seizing on to gain momentum..

So I will restate for the umpteenth time, those with guns, who enjoy their guns, need to be more proactive in proposing ideas to reduce gun violence because the same old adages of quoting the second amendment and stating that law breakers don't follow the law anyway are losing momentum.... the average person, who is fairly indifferent to gun ownership laws, just wants to feel safe.. and the argument that no guns would make them safer than more guns, just seems to make sense to a lot of people... and stating that criminals aren't going to give up their guns anyway is not having as big of an impact as it used to.

I live in a country where handguns are illegal as are assault weapons. After Sandy Hook I heard a lot about the gun culture in the U.S. and learned a couple things:

1. It's easy as hell to get a gun in the U.S.
And 2: the NRA is pretty powerful . Gun manufacturers love them, though. For obvious reasons.

BTW wasn't the 2nd amendment crafted at time when people were encouraged to have guns in case they had to fight off the Brits?

No, it was to be made sure that the people could protect themselves from the government if need be. A fact many of us don't believe is being talked about enough.

MANIFESTO OF ANGER AND DEATH

Killer who gunned down his former TV news co-workers raged about SC church shooting, being black and gay

http://www.foxnews.com/

sigh.

being black and gay is no reason to shoot innocent people. we got problems in this country, but his horrible actions are by no way making anything better.

that's sad news ... I'm single, white, and heterosexual and I don't feel the urge to shoot anyone.

I hope we get to the point in our country where none of our demographics/races/sexual orientations matter

i love technology, but one of the drawbacks is that now everybody has a platform.

you can do something crazy and pretty much be guaranteed it's gonna end up on national news.

so if it's racial, religious, gender, sexual orientation, culture, etc. everybody can be heard, its now just a matter of how extreme you're willing to go.

and with social media boom, its not that far.

With Periscope or Meerkat you have a tv studio in a phone.

You know what, if they're filming... live TV and etc - can anyone explain to me how someone can walk up, point their gun, then proceed to stand there a bit, then raise and point his gun again and start shooting without any form of security being there?

Really? It didn't dawn on me until now, but I figure such a thing - there would be some sort of security or something looking over things. Maybe that's just me?

In a small town, a TV station or newspaper would not have security at a situation like that.

Those small town media outlets can't afford security, but mostly you aren't expecting that someone will come in and start shooting up the place.

I agree with you for the most part.

Sad part is, the people that do good don't get any recognition, relatively speaking. It's not good for "shock news", which translates into "no ratings".

I can explain it.

A reporter and her camera man were out at a tourist place, at what, 8 in the morning? Interviewing someone. If you watch the video, you can see the camera man had his back to the bad guy the whole time. The reporter was focused on the interviewee the whole time.

All the pro gun people can do is tell the truth. More people are killed by hammers than guns. More crime is prevented by guns that committed by guns. The left controls the media, and it needs to change.

Lamp, as the country was majority UK colonist at the time, yes, it was due to the British that the idea of the right to own guns was brought into majority belief in what would become the US. The British had a history of removing guns and other weapons from the populace to prevent rebellion. After the battle of Culloden moor in 1745, the British went as far as removing guns, swords, tartans, and the clan system from Scotland. The entire Bill of Rights can be attributed to British rule and the desire to never be under a similar system of government again.

Man, talk about knee jerk reactions. . .

no TV station can afford security guards on their anchors or reporters when they are on scene. Not Cleveland Atlanta, New York or Chicago.


If you look at a TV stations website... they usually employ 25-75 reporters in a top 20 market.

here is an example:
http://www.newsnet5.com/about-us/staff

That's not true.

http://www.politifact.com/texas/statemen...people-are-kil/

At the bottom of the page it lists the stats according to the FBI. All firearms put up 8583 of homicides while all of that only a couple of thousand.

I have done hundreds of live shots just like the one that crew was doing. I have never had any security. The only time we have any security is when we are at an active scene and there are cops all around.

To the point about how they didn't see him coming, when you are in the middle of doing a live shot, and the reporter is talking with someone, and the photog has a camera on his/her shoulder, you are kind of oblivious to the world around you. It's no different when someone in an office is working on their computer and they block out the people around them.

I was working with a reporter on Friday and we were just talking about something like this happening. If I'm doing a straight live, with the camera on a tripod locked down, I'm always looking around to see if anyone is doing something stupid. But, if I was doing a live interview, like the DBJ crew was, you can't really look around and see what's happening.

This whole story has really hit home for us, I work at the ABC station in Richmond, VA and some of the people that work here knew the victims and the killer. It's just really hard covering it when it happens to our own. One of the things TV people are able to do is divorce themselves from these incidents and focus on the job, but something like this makes it hard.