Authorities say they know the suspect, Vester Flanagan, was a former employee at the station, WDBJ-TV. They say they don't know if the shooting was racially motivated. Flanagan was black and had formerly complained about racial bias at the station.
Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after the Wednesday morning shooting.
Virginia State Police say they found the suspect about 11:30 a.m. They say troopers had pursued him on the highway, but he sped away and crashed. Police say he was found with life-threatening injuries.
He went by Bryce Williams on the air.
The general manager of WDJB-TV, Jeffrey Marks, described Flanagan as an unhappy, angry man who eventually was fired. Marks said Flanagan was hired as a reporter a few years ago after a while out of the TV news business.
Marks says the man had a reputation of being difficult to work with and being on the lookout for people to say things he could take offense to.
Marks says: "Eventually, after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well." Marks says that when Flanagan was fired, police had to escort him from the building.
Marks said that Flanagan alleged that other employees made racially-tinged comments to him and that he filed a complaint with the EEOC. But Marks says the allegations couldn't be corroborated. He says the claim was dismissed.
ABC News reports that a man using the name Bryce Williams called the network in the past few weeks asking to pitch a story and wanting to fax information. The organization says the man never said what the story was.
Then, ABC News says, a fax arrived with a time stamp of 8:26 a.m. Wednesday, nearly two hours after the shooting in Virginia. He called the network just after 10 a.m., introducing himself as Bryce but saying that his legal name was Vester Lee Flanagan and that he had shot two people.
ABC said in a story on its website that network officials immediately contacted authorities and provided them with the fax.
The 23-page document is a manifesto of sorts, saying he was motivated to kill his former co-workers after the recent Charleston church shootings. The document says Williams bought a gun June 19, two days after authorities say Dylann Roof killed nine people inside a black church. Police have called the massacre a racially motivated hate crime. The document also cites the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School killers as influences.
The TV station in Virginia has said that Flanagan alleged that other employees made racially-tinged comments to him and that he filed a complaint. But the station's general manager says the allegations couldn't be corroborated.
Meanwhile, the television reporter and cameraman killed while they were doing a live shot are being described as a team who were at the beginning of their careers.
Friends and colleagues said Wednesday that Alison Parker and Adam Ward were part of a close-knit family at TV station WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia.
The 24-year-old Parker was hired at WDBJ full time about a year ago. The 27-year-old Ward had worked at the station for several years, first in the production department, then as a video journalist.
They both found love at the station. Parker was dating an anchor. Ward was engaged to a producer.
The third victim in the shooting is being described as a woman with a positive attitude who's full of energy.
Vicki Gardner is the executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce. She was being interviewed Wednesday morning when gunfire broke out. Gardner was wounded but officials say she's in stable condition.
Troy Keaton, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, says he was at the hospital with her for several hours after the shooting, along with her husband and one of her children. He says the family is remaining strong.
Keaton says Gardner emailed him before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to let him know about the live television interview to promote the lake's 50th anniversary.
He says: "The fact she was there at 4:50 is sort of Vicki. And you know, not a lot of the other staffers would've been up for that. If she was here, she'd be saying 'Man, at least everybody gets to see our beautiful lake.'"
