Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
double-murder in the United States, on 26 August 2015
On the morning of August 26, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, both employees of CBS affiliate WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, United States, were fatally shot while conducting a live television interview near Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta. They were interviewing Vicki Gardner, executive director of the local chamber of commerce, when all three were attacked by a gunman in a shooting. Parker, age 24, and Ward, age 27, died at the scene, while Gardner survived.
The gunman was 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan II, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been fired in 2013 for disruptive conduct. After a five-hour manhunt, Flanagan shot himself in the head during a car chase with police officers and later died at a hospital.
Events
Murders
At the time of the shooting, Alison Parker and Adam Ward were conducting a live interview with Vicki Gardner at Moneta's Bridgewater Plaza about upcoming events for the 50th anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake, 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Roanoke. The shooting occurred at 6:46 a.m. EDT in the middle of the segment, which was broadcast on WDBJ's morning news program Mornin'. Video of the incident showed Parker conducting the interview when at least eight gunshots were heard, followed by screams. Ward's camera fell to the ground, briefly capturing the image of Flanagan holding a Glock 19 9mm pistol.
“Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward” enters the record as double-murder in the United States, on 26 August 2015. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Murders, Alison and Parker can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Murders, Alison and Parker provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20873020. Authority coordinates are 37.143, -79.670. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2015 and 2013.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward primary sources, Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward archive and Murders research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.