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Vester Flanagan was ordered by his WDBJ7 to seek mental health or be fired after 'threatening' behaviour | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The gunman who killed two journalists on-air in Virginia before killing himself was reportedly ordered to seek mental health assistance or face termination from his past employer. | |
Documents, obtained by The Guardian, reportedly show several emails between the gunman Vester Flanagan, WDBJ-7's news director Dan Dennison, and several senior colleagues at the station. | |
In one memo, Mr Dennis warned Flanagan, known professionally as Bryce Williams, that in one month he had "behaved in a manner that has resulted in one or more of your co-workers feeling threatened or uncomfortable", according to the paper. | |
After an initial warning to seek "employee assistance professionals" at a company called Health Advocate on 30 July 2012, he reportedly was given a final chance on Christmas Eve that year. Dennison reportedly emailed colleagues saying: "I'm not entirely sure where his head is at." He was fire three months later when police escorted him from the newsroom's building. | |
Nearly two years later Mr Flanagan would take the lives of two of his former WDBJ-7 coworkers. | |
In 2014, he filed racial and sexual discrimination lawsuits against the station. The case was eventually dismissed. | In 2014, he filed racial and sexual discrimination lawsuits against the station. The case was eventually dismissed. |
“Your Honor, I am not the monster here. I get along with my current co-workers... That sure doesn’t sound like the monster I was painted to be,” he wrote in the filing. However, employees at the station vehemently deny these claims. | “Your Honor, I am not the monster here. I get along with my current co-workers... That sure doesn’t sound like the monster I was painted to be,” he wrote in the filing. However, employees at the station vehemently deny these claims. |
The Independent has reached out to WDBJ Television for comment. | The Independent has reached out to WDBJ Television for comment. |
It emerged after the death of Flanagan that a 23-page manifesto had been sent to ABC News, purportedly sent by a Bryce Williams. | |
In it, he blamed the murder on the Charleston Church massacre, in which nine black people were killed in South Carolina. | |
Referring to the Charleston gunman Dylann Roof, it read: "You want a race war (redacted)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE …(redacted)!!!" | |