TV station ‘absolutely certain’ that gunman did not face racism from co-workers

The Virginia news station that employed two reporters who were fatally shot during a live broadcast is denying the gunman’s claims that he was the victim of racism.

“I am absolutely certain that nothing like that happened in this case, and that it was in the imagination and perhaps pre-conception and pre-planned attitudes of the fellow in this case,” WDBJ7 general manager Jeff Marks said at a press conference Thursday.

{mosads}Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were shot and killed on live television Wednesday by Vester Flanagan, according to police, a former WDBJ7 employee, who died later in the day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In the hours after the attack, a Twitter account linked to Flanagan, who is black and went by the name Bryce Williams, tweeted footage of the shooting, along with claims that he faced racism while working at the TV station.

“We do not tolerate any attitude of illegal discrimination and harassment or anything that makes the workplace other than a safe place to work,” Marks said.

In a manifesto apparently faxed by Flanagan to ABC News Wednesday morning, the gunman said the slayings were in response to the mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C., earlier this year.

“The church shooting was the tipping point … but my anger has been building steadily,” the manifesto said. “I’ve been a human powder keg for a while … just waiting to go BOOM!!!”

Flanagan filed several complaints of harassment and unfairness during his time as an employee at WDBJ7.

Marks said that “those accusations or concerns were immediately investigated and found to be without merit.”

Flanagan had been placed on several performance-improvement plans, citing complaints from co-workers about his behavior.

“I do know from everything we’ve said and we’ve learned that Vester’s behavior annoyed a lot of people in the newsroom … producers, other reporters, anchors and managers,” Marks said.

“I would defend the actions of every person in that newsroom when he was here, because I saw the way that he behaved, and if anything he — let me just leave it at that, I saw the way he behaved,” he continued.

Flanagan was fired from the station in February 2013.

“He reacted angrily, telling them that they had to call the police, because he was going to make a mistake, and it was going to be in the headlines,” Marks said.

Parker, 24, and Ward, 27, were shot during a live report in Moneta, Va., early Wednesday morning. Vicki Gardner, the director of the local Chamber of Commerce who was being interviewed at the time, was also shot. She is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.