Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Journalists Mourned in Roanoke; Andy Parker Interview; Shooter's 23-page Rant. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:18] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The man leading the pack for the Republican presidential nomination takes the podium in just a few moments. It is Donald Trump, and his audience today Greenville, South Carolina. It's the home state of one of Trump's GOP rivals, Senator Lindsey Graham. Trump is greatly outpacing the senator at this stage of the race and the two men are pretty much nonstop sniping at one another on Twitter and anywhere else they can find a mike. Stay with CNN because we are going to go live to Trump's comments just as soon as he takes to the podium.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

I want to show you something. Something that will express to you better than anything I could possibly say the absolute heartbreak and sorrow that is radiating from the city of Roanoke, Virginia, today. I want to show you the people who gathered whatever it took in order to get to work this morning in the newsroom of television station WDBJ. Their colleagues, a morning news reporter and her longtime photographer, were shot dead just the day before during a live broadcast. At the exact time of yesterday's shooting, the station's on air staff stopped the newscast and they took a moment to join their community and just be sad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Approaching a moment that none of us will forget. It was yesterday around this time that we went live to Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward. They were out in the field. A story that was like so many others that they did all the time, reporting on our hometown. They were at Bridgewater Plaza near Smith Mountain Lake to report on a happy event, the 50th anniversary of the lake, just a feature. And it was during a conversation with Vicki Gardner about another reason why we love living here when the peacefulness of our community was shattered.

As we approach that moment, we want to pause and reflect and we want to share with you, once again, what made these two so special, not just to us, but to all of our hometowns that WDBJ serves. Please join us now in a moment of silence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: On the left of your screen, Adam Ward, 27 years old, and, of course, his partner, Alison Parker, 24 years old. This hour we also have to talk about the man who senselessly walked up

and shot them both dead yesterday. Who he was and why he says he did it. We're going to get to all of that.

But right now we're with the people of Roanoke, Virginia, and colleagues and friends and families of these two victims. I went to get straight out to Victor Blackwell who's live in Roanoke.

How are Adam and Alison being remembered and celebrated? I can see it starting behind you, but tell me about this day.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, this is a community that is grieving, that is in mourning. I've had more than one person stop me and tell me anecdotally stories about WDBJ and watching Alison in the mornings. But it appears they're trying to strike what is a difficult balance, not focusing on the act of what happened yesterday, but focusing on the work that two - these two journalists did before they were killed on live television.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just turned 24 last week, and she had - she packed in a great life in 24 years.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): This morning, family members in a community are left reeling, grieving the loss of a newly engaged cameraman and an aspiring anchor with so much life left to live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart is - is broken. But I want to try and do something that will - will change that and make her life - will do something meaningful for her life so that this doesn't happen to someone else again.

BLACKWELL: Colleagues say 27-year-old Adam Ward and 24-year-old Alison Parker of Virginia affiliate WDBJ were unfailingly positive, relentlessly hard working, and never shied away from a story.

ALISON PARKER: Adam, come out from in front of the camera.

BLACKWELL: Both Parker and Ward began as interns at the station, eventually becoming a team as staff reporter and photographer for the morning show.

PARKER: I am a Virginia girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had aspirations of being an anchor, and I have no doubt she would have been able to accomplish that goal.

BLACKWELL: The 24-year-old was a rising star appearing on CNN last November.

[12:05:00] CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEWSROOM": Thank you so much, Alison Parker, from WDBJ in Roanoke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had an explosive personality. She always smiled. She was full of ideas. BLACKWELL: Parker had been dating WDBJ's evening anchor Chris Hurst

and had just moved in with him. "She was the most radiant woman I ever met," he posted on social media. "And for some reason, she loved me back."

ADAM WARD: In Salem, Adam Ward, News 7 sports.

BLACKWELL: Ward was engaged to the morning show's producer, Melissa Ott, who was supposed to be celebrating her last day at the station Thursday. Instead, she watched in horror in the control room as her future husband was gunned down. Later, on that same day, her wedding dress was delivered, a symbol of love and commitment to Ward for a lifetime, shattered by this senseless act of violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And this is the memorial that is growing outside of WDBJ's station here. You see this tree with two ribbons, one each for Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Flowers, notes, cards are dropped off here throughout the day. Someone just dropped off more flowers. There's a camera that someone dropped off here. A Virginia Tech sweatshirt. We know that Adam Ward was a huge fan of Virginia Tech. And there's a note that's been written that calls them the bright, shining stars who believed in this community, Ashleigh.

And one other person who really believed in this community, Vicki Gardner, who was the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce out in the community of Moneta. She was shot in the back. And we're told she underwent emergency surgery and is in stable condition. Her folks there at the Chamber of Commerce call her a bright, energetic visionary, and they are dedicated to standing with her throughout her recovery.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Victor Blackwell reporting live for us. Thank you for that.

And, of course, Alison and Adam leave behind not only all those colleagues that we've been reporting on, but family and friends as well. Alison's father is Andy Parker and he's kind enough to join us right now live on the program.

First of all, Mr. Parker, can I just say, it's so hard to prepare for these interviews. It will sound trite when I say we are all thinking of you and our thoughts go out to you. And I know there's a lot that you want to say about your daughter, and I want to give you that opportunity. So let's just start with that. Tell me who she was to you.

ANDY PARKER, ALISON PARKER'S FATHER: Well, thank you, Ashleigh.

I - she was - I was listening to the commentary before - before we started, and she was all of that. She was - everything she touched, she excelled at. She was always happy. She was just, you know, she touched a lot of people. And everybody that she touched loved her. She was, you know, as special as you can get. And, you know, I - it has been very tough the last couple of days, and

I really didn't have any intention of doing any interviews like this and making the, you know, the television circuit, but I guess the middle of the day yesterday I did a - I - a "Washington Post" reporter called me and he - he did a wonderful piece yesterday. And as I read it and as I got to thinking about it, I thought, you know, I need to - Alison would want me to do this. Alison would want me to go on and tell her story, because she's a journalist, and this is what journalists do. And I'm trying to honor her memory and keep her memory alive by doing these things and, you know, trying to convey as best I can the kind of person that she is.

I - you know, the candlelight services, I just got an e-mail from friends of mine out in California, and they're having a candlelight vigil for her out in Los Angeles. I mean this has struck a chord nationwide. I'm overwhelmed and, you know, my feels went from numbness yesterday when I found out to abject grief. As you can imagine this - it just ripped my heart out and my soul is crushed, but I have to go on and now beyond that I want to try and make meaning of Alison's life and take on this issue that this - that this senseless murder, cold- blooded murderer created. And that is, you know, how many times are we going to grieve for people like Alison and Adam and the people at Newtown and the people in Charleston and all these people that are victims of emotionally, mentally unstable people?

[12:10:00] You know, we have got to get sensible gun control and, you know, press the NRA. And I'll make no bones about it, they have been obstructionists. They try and fight any piece of legislation, reasonable legislation, that has come up. And it's time for it to end. And so my mission in life now - and I'm going to make - you know, I'm dedicating this mission to Alison. And anybody that knows me knows that I'm going to be relentless about this. I don't care how long it takes, and I know you guys are, you know, in the news business and this makes for a great story and it's going to last for a while, but at some point typically what happens is, oh, yes, this is, you know, it's going to die down. Everybody's going to forget about it. And let's see what Donald Trump is doing. I'm not going to let that happen.

And I got a call from Governor Terry McAuliffe yesterday and I told him those exact words. And anybody that knows me knows that I'm going to be relentless and I'm going to follow through with this and I'm going to shame, do whatever I can to shame the politicians that back these, you know, these NRA obstructionists to do something about this. And I'm not advocating taking guns away, you know, going through - house to house and taking everybody's guns away. I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment. But this stuff has got to stop. And, you know, smarter people than I am can figure out a way to do background checks and prevent mentally unstable, crazy people, from getting guns.

BANFIELD: Mr. Parker, I'm - the story is so public. Your daughter, a public figure. Her beloved boyfriend, also a public figure, a main anchor at the station. This story now being politicized, making it even more public. I'm wondering if it makes this easier for you that it is public and that you can share across the country your feelings, or if this makes it far more difficult? PARKER: It - it's - I think it's going to be a cathartic experience

for me to help me get through this, to, you know, help me find purpose and to do something for a daughter that had so much potential, that was so talented, that was so loved by people, you know. This is what I can do to start this. And if it has to be a political agenda, I'm, you know, I - I was - I was a member of the Henry County Board of Supervisors because - at this point I'm a current candidate. I decided to go ahead and run again. And so I'm used to politics. But it's at a local level.

It's time to take this to a national level and I intend to do so. And when I - again, when I talk to Governor McAuliffe and I told him this was what I was going to do, he said - he said, Andy, do it. Go for it. I'm right there behind you. And we need politicians like that that will stand up to the gun lobby and stand up for reasonable gun control. And if I have to make it political, so be it. I'm going to let it rip.

BANFIELD: Well, your fortitude is remarkable. You're a much stronger man than I in the face of what you've just been through in the last 24 hours. I don't know how you're - you're just so together. And I appreciate you talking to us. And, again, I will repeat it, everyone here at CNN and I think all of our colleagues across the country, you know, send our thoughts and condolences to you and Alison's mom as well and her brother.

PARKER: I appreciate that. She was - she was loved and, you know, the only solace that we have is that, you know, she packed a lot in in a few years. And she was so happy with what she was doing. She loved Chris Hurst, and she loved us. I talked to her - and I'm sorry because this always - this has happened every time and I don't mean for it to, but she - I talked to her every day. I talked to her every single day. And I'd get a text from her saying, dad, you know, what did you think of my package and all of that? And I'll never hear that again. And I just, you know, it just crushes my soul.

BANFIELD: Well, I'm - I'm -

PARKER: You know, I'm sorry, but thank you for having me.

BANFIELD: No, don't apologize. Honestly, don't apologize, and I'm so glad that you have her voice and you've got her wisdom and that you are sharing that and it will be continued to pay forward in the work that you plan to embark on. Again, I hope we speak again under different circumstances. And I thank you, Andy, for your time.

[12:15:03] PARKER: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I want to let our viewers know as well, if you want to find different ways you can honor Alison Parker and her work partner, Adam Ward, you can visit our website, cnn.com/impact.

And, you know, adding to the horrors inflicted by a self-described human powder keg are the online posts and the rambling rants that he put out while he was on the run. After a break we're going to go inside the very disturbed mind of the man behind this with some brand- new details from his suicide note.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We're getting some brand-new information about the man who killed two Virginia journalists before he took his own life during a chase with the police. Just hours after the shooting, Vester Flanagan faxed a rambling and disjointed suicide letter to ABC News. It is split into three parts. One part is entitled, final good-bye for authorities. The second part of this rambling letter is a suicide note for friends and family. And the third part is a very long letter to his father, and this is where some of the intriguing information comes in in that letter.

He says, quote, "I have been targeted my whole life, mostly by white females, but also by black males." He also says, "I will never forget a saying that was written on a message in a fortune cookie. In times of prosperity, our friends know us. In times of adversity, we know our friends." And then there's this quote. And it is odd. "I want to say I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for anything and everything that I have ever done or said to offend or hurt anyone."

[12:20:12] And in the next breath, he says violent and vile things that we can't even broadcast. He says, quote, "I am somewhat racist against blacks and whites and Latinos. Asians? I admire and like them." He also refers to past family mental health issues and he lists three different jobs. His last employment ending in April. It appears he may have been unemployed then for five months. He purchased a gun after potentially being in that unemployment three months.

In another bizarre note, Flanagan devotes an entire page to the TV show "Dynasty." A show that went off the air 25 years ago.

I want to bring in legal analyst Mel Robbins and Jonathan Gilliam, who's a former police officer and former FBI special agent, who also happens to have a degree in psychology, which at this juncture helps me greatly because this person swings wildly. So sorry for everything I've ever done to hurt people, and yet couldn't hurt people more with his language in this note. As investigators, how do you deal with someone with such dichotomy?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Well, when you're looking at like - something like that manifesto, there's going to be certain truths in there. But also what you're looking at there is somebody who - who -- their brain is just misfiring. That's why it's so all over the place. There was recently one of the people who went and shot up a theater and they looked up at his house and it was destroyed, completely destroyed, because the guy was full of rage. And that's what you get here. You're not looking at a normal person with a normal brain showing their anger. You're looking at somebody whose brain is misfiring and it's looking in - really focusing on different issues that really have nothing to do with anything.

BANFIELD: And, of course, this is sent hours after he's already murdered two people and attempted to murder a third.

Mel, I want to ask you, there are a lot of people asking questions about the responsibility of the station. This happened live on television. This was while they were working. And some people were wondering if the station bears any liability for their safety and ultimately for their - what some might say wrongful death. Is there anything to that?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: You know, I think we want to reach for answers, and so people naturally go to, are the family's going to sue. And it would be a negligence suit. But the truth of the matter is, he was fired two years ago. And when he was fired, Ashleigh, they did everything right. They documented prior complaints. They actually then fired him. He was escorted from the building. They had a guard outside for two days because they were worried. And they also put other employees on notice saying, if you see him around the station, let us know. So they did everything right.

Two years passed. They never hear again from this guy. And he shows up while they're doing a live broadcast. There is absolutely no way that they could have known based on his background, based on his job history, based on the fact that he didn't have a criminal record as far as we knew and they did everything right in terms of the termination and dealing with a volatile employee.

BANFIELD: I want to ask you, as an Agent Gilliam, the - while this was unfolding live on the air yesterday, his Twitter account started posting these really angry tweets and then the suggestion he filmed the murder that he committed and posted it on Facebook. And those took two social agencies to disable the accounts very quickly. And while that, you know, on the surface seems like a good idea because it is horribly offensive to have to witness these things, come across these things -

GILLIAM: Sure.

BANFIELD: Or for those family and friends to see them, it was actually really bad for the investigators who were tracking a murderer who could have wrought so much more violence.

GILLIAM: Yes, I absolutely believe that. And as we were talking yesterday, and then we were just talking before we came on air, you know that - and we used to have this same issue, similar issue, with phone companies. So if you had somebody who was kidnapped, we would go to the phone company, because there wasn't a real relationship where we'd say, we need the toll records on this phone or we need a wire-up, and - but we would have to go and get a subpoena first. And at that point in time, because of the emergency circumstances, we may lose what information we could have caught.

Now the way the phone companies work is there's a direct person, their sole job is to work with law enforcement. And what I would like to see with Twitter and with Facebook is not just so that they have somebody in place, but they need to start forward thinking these things because when they took that down yesterday, the live tweets stopped. If he knew that he couldn't tweet anymore, that means he stopped giving out real-time information. That if he had not killed himself, could have been used in a conviction.

BANFIELD: Yes.

GILLIAM: And if he was going to kill other people, could have helped investigators track him and stop it.

BANFIELD: Could have stopped it. Yes, I know. And thank God it didn't go any further than that. Small consolation for those who are - are left behind in the wake of this horror.

Jonathan Gilliam, thank you. Mel Robbins, thank you for that.

The shooter's family, by the way, they are also offering their sympathies. Here is part of a statement that was read by a family friend in the state of California.

[12:25:04] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER BOWMAN, FRIEND OF THE KILLER'S FAMILY: It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We are also praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' families and with WDBJ television station family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Vester Flanagan felt wronged by a lot of people before he decided to resort to the bloodshed that he did. And before he did that, he filed lawsuits. Our Drew Griffin has his hands on some court documents, and he's going to sort out some of the claims that this man made from the actual facts on the ground, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Two journalists shot dead live on television by a man who was once a reporter at that same television station. In the days since Vester Lee Flanagan walked up and shot Alison Parker and Adam Ward dead in Roanoke, Virginia, we are learning quite a bit about what may have driven him to such sudden and senseless violence, from both his own writings and from those who have the displeasure of working with him and alongside him.

CNN's Drew Griffin is here.

Drew, listen to this. It's from a TV station's internal memo from Vester Lee Flanagan's bosses back in 2012. And part of it reads, quote, "clearly much damage has been done already in your working relationships with several members of the photography staff." It goes on to say, quote, "you are required to contact health advocates by Friday. Failure to comply will result in termination of employment."

[12:30:13] This isn't the only company where