A disgruntled former TV station employee killed a pair of one-time colleagues on live air and then apparently posted his deadly work on social media Wednesday.
“I filmed the shooting, see Facebook,” former reporter Bryce Williams tweeted along with chilling footage of him killing Alison Parker and Adam Ward from Roanoke affiliate WDBJ.
Parker and Ward died in the 6:46 a.m. attack.
“Adam went to hr [human resources] on me after working with me one time!!!,” he tweeted after the killings.
“They hired her after that???”
Cops identified Williams, who also went by the name Vester L. Flanagan, as a person of interest, according to CNN.
The shooting happened at the Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Va., when Parker was doing a story on local tourism and interviewing the head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce.
As at least eight shots rang out and Ward fell, his camera appeared to catch a chilling glimpse of the killer — a man in dark clothes, a corrugated purple vest and holding a handgun in his right hand.
Parker screamed in terror as she ran away from the shooter, footage by Ward shows.
Back at the studio, horrified anchor Kimberly McBroom, her mouth agape, said: “OK, I’m not sure what happened there.”
“They were special people, they’d brighten up a room every morning,” McBroom said later after breaking the tragic news.
Vicki Gardner, the chamber official Parker was interviewing, was shot in the back before she was rushed to a hospital where doctors operated on her, officials said.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told WTOP that cops were hot on the killer’s trail.
“We know who the suspect is. We believe it’s a disgruntled employee from the station is what we believe right now,” he said.
“But there’s an active pursuit going on. We know the suspect and I assume in very short order … the suspect will be in custody.”
Both Parker, 24, and Ward, 27, grew up locally and attended college in the commonwealth — she at James Madison and he at Virginia Tech.
“I can’t tell you how much they were loved,” station GM Jeff Marks said. “Our hearts are broken.”
Marks revealed that Parker was involved with Chris Hurst, an anchor and reporter at WDBJ.
“Chris has said it’s OK to say that he and Alison were an item and were involved,” the GM said. “Chris is here and quite devastated.”
A short time later, Hurst posted a picture of the two on Twitter.
“We didn’t share this publicly, but @AParkerWDBJ7 and I were very much in love,” Hurst tweeted. “We just moved in together. I am numb.”
“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 continued.
“She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.”
Hurst thanks colleagues for their condolences.
“I am comforted by everyone at @WDBJ7. We are a family,” he wrote. “She worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee.”
Ward was engaged to a WDBJ news producer, who had just accepted a new job in Charlotte, NC, McBroom said.
It was the fiancee’s last day on the job Wednesday and Parker had brought balloons and cake to the newsroom to celebrate.
“There were a lot of good things happening for Adam and Alison,” a downcast McBroom said.
Parker had just celebrated her birthday Aug. 19 and she was working that day.
“I’m at work on my special day. But my awesome fellow employees brought me some yummy donuts, so I guess it’s not so bad!” she wrote on Facebook.
On Monday, she posted some photos of a whitewater rafting trip she took with friends and family in North Carolina to celebrate her special day.
She wrote that she would be out in the field reporting Tuesday through Friday and would anchor the show Saturday.
Parker was also set to compete in a “Dancing with the Stars” competition in Virginia that raises money for a charity that helps survivors of domestic violence.
She wrote that she was looking forward to the dance-off and had spent “months and many hours of dance rehearsals” preparing.
Additional reporting by Lou Lumenick