A candle burns in front of a memorial for two slain journalists at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia, on Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. The shopping center where the two were killed during a live television broadcast was reopening Friday for the first time since the shootings. The shopping center where two journalists were slain during a live interview is set to open for the first time since the attack. AP
ROANOKE, Virginia — The woman who survived the on-air shooting that killed two TV journalists says she never saw the gunman walk up because the camera’s bright light blinded her.
Vicki Gardner was answering questions on live TV when the gunfire erupted. She was wounded as she fell to the ground after hearing the first gunshots, her husband said Friday.
The gunman, Vester Flanagan, ambushed WDBJ-TV cameraman Adam Ward and reporter Alison Parker during the interview Wednesday at a visitor center. Gardner is executive director of a resort area’s chamber of commerce.
READ: US reporter, cameraman murdered on air; suspect kills self
The first four shots were aimed at Parker, and two more were aimed at Ward, Gardner’s husband, Tim, said in a telephone interview from the hospital where she is recovering. Then he fired at Gardner, though his first couple of shots missed her.
“And then when she dove down and got shot, he stopped shooting and took off,” he said. “But she wasn’t sure he was gone, so she just laid there playing possum until first responders showed up.”
Flanagan fired 17 shots from a Glock pistol, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday. The writings and evidence seized from Flanagan’s apartment showed the man “closely identified” with people who have committed mass murders, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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Parker and Ward died of gunshot wounds to the head and body. Vicki Gardner was shot in the back.
Flanagan shot himself to death after a police chase. Flanagan, a former reporter at WDBJ, was fired from the station in 2013 for poor performance and conflicts with co-workers.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe met privately with station employees to share his condolences.
He also talked about his support for universal background checks for gun purchases and said he and Alison Parker’s father, Adam, would fight for tougher gun laws.
“There are too many guns in America and there are clearly too many guns in the wrong hands,” the governor said. But McAuliffe, himself a gun owner, also conceded that Flanagan had passed a background check.