now at 11, remembering two young journalists. a virginia community in shock. >> the young reporter and photographer ambushed on live tv by a former coworker. >> they were out there nearly every day together as a team. and they were murdered together.

>> new tonight -- >> people found it difficult to work with him. >> troubling details of the day the gunman was fired. >> and a tv station trying to carry on, reporting on a tragedy in their own family. >> it's just really hard. >> holding back too. >> new video just in from roanoke, virginia tonight where the community gathered to morn alison parker and adam ward. the young reporter and photographer were killed this morning on live tv. >> a memorial is also building outside their tv station. wdbj. and tonight we have team coverage from roanoke to monmon. what could have led to this senseless tragedy. >> we're looking through records that vester flanagan's rough exit and the chilling message he left behind for the news director when he was fired. >> tonight, we're also hearing

from flanagan's family for the first time, and we're watching the outpouring of love and support for alison parker and adam ward. that's where we begin tonight with news4's david culver, who attended that vigil in franklin county. >> as the sunset over franklin county, hearts were illuminated, one candle at a time. ♪ amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ >> reporter: just a few miles from this morning's tragedy, a local church turning this parking lot into a space of healing, a space of prayer. a space of love. >> where we can't understand, we can't explain things we have grace. >> reporter: lisa hall, holding tight to her daughter crystal, her grandchildren close by. wondering how could this happen here? >> we're in franklin county, you know, a little country town. nobody knows of. >> reporter: she watched the terror unfold live this morning. >> the look on the anchor lady's, kimberly mcbroom that

was on the story, the look on her face just made -- i was at home, and you could just tell. >> the first thing i was thinking, maybe the car backfired. there is a lot of traffic, a busy entertainment complex. a car backfired. i thought maybe something happened with the camera. maybe a light had blown or something. anything but this. >> reporter: tonight many passing by wdj 7's station, leaving their well wishes, a vigil, remembrance. >> we woke up this morning. so did they. they went to work. they didn't think twice about it. >> i think adam, i didn't know him personally, but i consider him a hero, because he got a picture of the gentleman that did this. ♪ >> reporter: behind me, you can see where that terror unfolded early this morning. still closed off to folks here in franklin county. and a lot of the residents i spoke with say today, today was difficult.

but the days to come should be even more challenging. jim, doreen, back to you. >> david culver, thank you. vester flanagan apparently didn't just want tv viewers to see what he had done. in the hours after the shooting, he took his anger online, seemingly justifying the shooting on twitter and on facebook. and in a manifesto, he sent to abc news. he even posted videos from his perspective of him pulling the trigger. he was wearing a camera. after the shooting, flanagan picked up a rental car and sped up i-81 on i-66 in fauquier county, a state trooper's license plate reader hit on his car, and she followed him until he veered off the road. police found him with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. but he still had a pulse. flanagan was airlifted to a fairfax hospital. we could see him being taken off the chopper there. he died just 15 minutes after this. we heard from friends of the flanagan family late this afternoon.

>> our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' family and with wdbj television family. thank you. >> we aren't going to show you the video flanagan recorded from his vantage point, but we are going to show you one freeze-frame to give you an idea of how close he got to his victims before he opened fire this morning. this was the scene before flanagan pulled the trigger. you can see he was standing right behind adam ward, and just feet from alison parker. news4's jackie bensen has been digging into flanagan's history, dig for a possible motive. >> reporter: i read flanagan's personnel file this afternoon. it's a pretty thick one for him only having been at that station for about a year. nothing in it, nothing in it explains why his anger grew and twisted into the unspeakable and monstrous act committed today.

the 50 odd pages of personnel file accumulated at wdbj known as bryce williams indicated there was trouble within weeks of his march 6th, 2012 hiring reprimand note lead separate occasions in which coworkers felt threatened after disagreements with him. by july 31st, he was told he make improvement or face termination. >> he seemed to have a short fuse if something didn't go his way. he didn't fit in because people found it difficult to work with him. and so after a while, and a number of incidents, we thought it was best if he left the company. and he did, but not happily. >> reporter: february 1st, 2013, the day he was fired, flanagan grew angry that he was only offered two week's severance pay. he demand lead months. he told assembled managers you better call police because i'm

going to make a big stink. after flanagan refused to leave the newsroom, the station's hr director did call 911. when officers arrived to escort an enraged flanagan out of the station, the incident was taped by adam ward, the photographer killed today. flanagan threw a smallwooden cross that had been on his desk at the news director and said you're going to need this. in may of last year, flanagan, serving as his own lawyer filed a lawsuit alleging unpaid overtime, reetall united nation, hostile work environment, and racial harassment and discrimination. the lawsuit was dismiss bade judge citing lack of evidence in july of 2014. after his firing, employees were told to call 911 if they saw the former reporter at the station. back to you. >> jackie, thank you. happy, radiant. a shining light. that's how alison parker's parents describe their daughter. >> her father, andi parker, says they are devastated, but find comfort in knowing their daughter lived every day of her

short life to the fullest. >> alison's boyfriend chris hurst is an anchor at the station. he spoke to reporters today saying he and parker had been dating for the better part of a year and had recently moved in together. >> this morning, she had to get up a little extra early to go to smith mountain lake. i made her breakfast. i made her lunch. i sent her on her way. and the next thing i knew, i wake up to phone calls from the station a little after 7:00 telling me that there had been a shooting that happened live on television, and that i needed to come to the station. >> as investigators search for answers, families and colleagues mourn. >> dave wagner joins us live from moneta, virginia with more on that. dave? >> yeah, jim and doreen, the community really is mourning tonight. 16 hours after the shootings, the tv live truck that has been surrounded by police tape all day long has finally been moved. that is a sad and surreal crime. it played out on social media and live tv as well.

like many tv stations, the staff very close at the cbs affiliate here. allison parker is 24 years old. adam ward 27 years old. adam was engaged to the morning producer, and she in fact watched her fiancee get killed on live tv, trying desperately to reach him by phone there. he died as did alison parker. alison's boyfriend, as you mentioned, very close and very touched by this crime, very personally saying i loved her so much, and she loved me back. adam describes the general manager as a guy who would do any job you asked him. he was a lovable person. so a tight knit station. a tight knit community. tonight they're all devastated. >> dave wagner, thank you so much. that third victim is in stable condition tonight. vicky gardner was the one allison and adam were interviewing at the time of that shooting. she was hit in the chest and rushed to the hospital for

emergency surgery. officials tell us she is in the recovery room at this hour. and we have a lot more content right now on our nbc washington app tonight, including a story from our sister station in the san francisco bay area with more about vester flanagan's background. some breaking news right now in fairfax county. not far from mt. vernon. police and fire crews are searching the area around little hunting creek where there had been reports of a teen going into the water, and he hasn't been seen since. news4 shomari stone just got to the scene. shomari, what can you tell us? >> well we know that this teen is 16 years old. his family sought here, and they are desperately waiting to find out if crews are going to find him tonight. they continue to search. let me move right out of the way. you see all the bright lights and police cars there is a fire engine over there. right now authorities are working together. we are near the george washington parkway and stratford lane. let's roll you some chopper 4 aerials right now.

three hours ago, the 16-year-old goes in the water. he is out here with his friends. he was last seen near a buoy in the channel near the potomac. he went under and did not come back up. fairfax county fire rescue, fairfax county police, u.s. park police, they searched on the ground, in the air, in the water. and they are still looking right now. they have stopped doing the air search with the chopper, but they will continue to look in the water. hopefully finding this 16-year-old. i asked was this a recovery or a rescue mission, and they tell me that it is a rescue mission right now. now little hunting creek is a around 3.6 miles long. and i tell you, authorities are out here and they're doing their best to try to find this teen. live in fairfax, shomari stone, news4. >> thank you. and develop right now in louisiana, another police officer has been killed, this time after responding to a domestic dispute in the small town of sunset, louisiana. about 15 miles north of lafayette. investigators say officer henry

nelson was shot and killed by harrison riley as he was responding to the dispute. riley is also accused of stabbing three women, one of whom died. riley then drove into a nearby mini-mart barricaded himself in an office. police were able to break in and arrest him. this is the fifth death of a police officer in louisiana in four months. no one got to see d.c.'s skyline from high atop the washington monument for a second straight night tonight, the elevator malfunctioned again today. nobody was in the elevator. but 23 people were at the top of the monument and had to walk all the way down. technicians are trying to figure out why the elevator keeps breaking down. we're still waiting to hear whether the monument will be open again tomorrow. we'll send you an alert on the nbc washington app if something changes. our coverage of the tragedy in roanoke continues tonight with the tribute right here in the d.c. area. plus, veterinarians at our national zoo putting all their focus into the surviving panda

cub tonight. what they're telling us this evening about mei xiang and that healthy cub. and after days of slides, finally some good news from wall street. doug? temperatures the next couple of days looking okay. but then temperatures going way up. we have a little bit of a heatwave. we'll talk about that. and the latest advisory on erika, you're going want to see. that puts the storm

we ask that you please join news observing a moment of silence as we remember wdbj roanoke journalists alison parker and adam ward. >> a touching tribute tonight for the victims of the shooting

in virginia at nationals park. players and fans honored alison parker and adam ward during a moment of silence. we'll show you more of tonight's tribute in roanoke a little later on. zookeepers are focusing on keeping the national zoo's surviving panda cub in good health tonight just hours after the smaller cub died. the good news is that larger cub is still doing well. they were born hours apart on saturday. both seemed to be in good health at first. but for about 24 hours, mei xiang refused to let keepers swap out her cubs, leaving staff to care for the smaller one. last night mei xiang started caring for the smaller cub this morning, but by this morning zookeepers knew something wasn't right. >> we immediately noted that the little cub had not increased in weight, appeared weaker, and was exhibiting possible respiratory issues. things turned, and the cub's condition declined into the early afternoon. and despite extreme efforts on the part of our dedicated staff,

we weren't able to change things. >> the zoo says the larger cub appears to be strong, and they are optimistic about its future. new tonight, hundreds of people came together to call for a crosswalk outside the united medical center in southeast washington. 56-year-old emma bet kabiti died friday after a driver hit her on busy southern avenue. that driver did not stop. it's the second fatal accident this year. many hospital employees attended the vigil tonight, say thanksgiving have to fight the traffic to get to work every day. the mayor's office told us yesterday, you saw, that they will try to get a crosswalk installed by early next year. for the first time in a week, we're not talking about calming your financial fears. wall street had its best day since 2011 today. the dow closed up more than 600 points. the s&p and nasdaq jumped up about 4% each. it follows six straight days of

massive declines, and there is still a lot of ground to make up. the dow lost more than 1900 points over that six-day slide. this week, the gulf coast is pausing to remember hurricane katrina. tomorrow president obama will mark ten years since the storm ravaged new orleans. more than 1800 people were killed, and a million others displaced when katrina barrelled in from the gulf of mexico, destroying levees and submerging 80% of the city in tainted storm water. news4's chris lawrence is in new orleans this week, taking a closer look at the recovery a decade later. join us for our special live coverage starting tomorrow at 4:00. >> and doug is here with -- you're watching another storm aren't you? >> it's continued to make a little skip to the right that does have significance for our weather possibly next week. let's take a look at what is going on. first off today, high temperatures, beautiful. upper 70s, low 80s. 77 in culpeper. 82 in d.c. 79 in the baltimore area.

temperatures today about four or five degrees below average. we'll be right around that average mark tomorrow. maybe a few degrees cool. but once again, a very nice day. and a nice night. 72 degrees. winds out of the northwest at 3 miles an hour. most of you are already into the 60s. even a couple 50s out there right now. storm team radar nothing to show right here. we are on the dry side. we will continue to be. i mentioned the cooler numbers. 56 in downtown around 65 degrees. so waking up tomorrow, a little chill to the air. it will feel a little more like fall for sure. all in all looking at a very nice day on our thursday and our friday. satellite and radar together depicting what is happening. we saw a few clouds early, then we saw the sun come out. big area of low pressure. this is an area of low pressure that we would see in months of say late september, maybe august. but we're seeing it in -- late december, october. but we're seeing it in the month of august. and that's why we have some of the cooler numbers.

that's why we're going to be cool again. that's also while we'll have phenomenal weather tomorrow. here is the latest of tropical storm erika. the center, right here, was not under the cloud cover earlier today. not under the thunderstorm activity. a very weak storm. still fairly weak. but it is looking like it's trying to strengthen a little bit. it's going to have a hard time doing so as it moves off towards the west. current winds moving to the west at 16 miles per hour. it will go through some of the islands, including the virgin islands towards puerto rico. that's about a 40 miles per hour storm. not a very strong storm. the biggest thing for them. that will get rain. here is what is going on. earlier today, the track took it right into south florida. but watch what happens now. it is moving to the north. a little bit of a shift in that pattern, and if you follow that shift, you just take it a little farther to the north. potentially into the southeast. that's something we're going have to watch. will it continue into the southeast, or will it curve back out to sea? that's going to be the forecast that we're going to be watching over the next couple days, because it will have some kind of an impact on our weather. even if it's just that you're

down out the beaches. 83 degrees on your thursday. 86 on friday. and then, well, then here comes the heat again. we're not talking high heat and humidity. but we are going to see temperatures on the warm side. 91 on saturday. 92 on sunday. and it looks like we're in the low 90s all the way through next week. so we'll continue to watch the heat and the storm. >> all right. thank you, doug. up next, the nats slide a bit farther away from the top of the division. how they wasted a comeback tonight against the padres.

this is the xfinity sports desk, brought to you by xfinity, your home for the most live sports.

>> all right, jason. nats moving inhe wrong direction. what is going on. >> every loss seems that much more devastating, especially with new york. they're not making up any ground right now. with this lineup now healthy for the nationals, they are never out of a ball game. and tonight, the latest example. they trail by five runs in the fourth inning, only to watch a comeback fall just short due to a very bad at-bat by a good player. gio gonzalez down 2-0 facing juston upton here. a two-run shot. gio, he pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowed 5 runs on 7 hits. bottom of the seventh, nats down 6-3. bryce harper up at the bases loaded, and he comes through. this ball falls in. it would score two runs. the nats down 6-5. and you've got runners at the corners with just one out. the excitement wouldn't last

long. next batter, escobar swinging at a 3-0 pitch, grounds to third. and that is an inning ending double play. why, why? the nationals lose 6-5. they fall another game in the standings. they're now back v 1/2 of the new york mets. to kansas city now. orioles taking on johnny cueto tonight. tied at 2 in the top of the fourth. jonathan scope. this ball is high and deep. the only question, is it fair or foul? that is a two-run shot. scope hitting nearly .340 with three home run ares and 15 rbi in the month of august. that deserves a fancy handshake from manny machado. birds lead it 4-2. there you go. top of the fifth now, khris davis looking to add to that lead. a man on for him. he wants the fancy handshake. that's a towering shot. another two-run blast. they tag cueto for two home

runs. the first time it happened all season. they put an end to that six-game losing streak with an 8-5 victory. moving on now. another redskins player had their season come to an end before it even started. junior galette was signed to a one-year contract after being cut by the saints. a torn achilles has ended his year. galette's injury happened near the end of practice today. head he had only returned to full-time work just a short time ago. he was supposed to make his preseason debut for the redskins this weekend against the ravens. instead, he faces surgery and a six to eight-month rehab process. this obviously very disappointing news for teammates and his coaches. now you can watch this game this weekend. ravens versus the redskins, 7:30 saturday night. myself and carol maloney will be down in baltimore with live

updates on news4 at 6:00. we'll have reaction after the game on the redskins postgame report, also on "news4 at 11." another tough loss. >> we'll be right back.

its end of a difficult day for everyone who works in television news. we lost two very bright, talented young journalist, alison parker and adam ward. and tv news is a pretty small world. >> many of us know people with a connection to that station or that market, and you don't have to work in tv to appreciate that all they did was go to work

today. we leave you tonight with images from that memorial in roanoke. good night. ♪

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