Adam Ward, the WDBJ-TV cameraman who was murdered alongside journalist Alison Parker on Wednesday, Aug. 26, was engaged to a producer at the station named Melissa Ott, who had to watch his tragic death from the control room after former employee Vester Flanagan allegedly shot and killed him.
General manager Jeff Marks said that Ott, who was producing the morning news show, was “devastated.”
According to NBC Philadelphia, Ott and Ward had planned on heading to Charlotte, N.C., for Ott’s new job. “We were celebrating that,” anchor Kimberly McBroom said on air, referring to a photo of Ott from earlier in the day McBroom posted on Facebook. “Alison had brought in balloons, I had brought in a cake, it was a day of celebration."
Parker was also dating a coworker, station reporter Chris Hurst, who revealed on Facebook following her death they were headed for marriage.
“We didn't share this publicly, but Alison Parker and I were very much in love. We just moved in together. I am numb. We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday,” he wrote. “She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents, and her brother. I am comforted by everyone at WDBJ7. We are a family. She worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee. She is our morning show producer. This is unconscionable. But I WILL share her story because it is one full of life, dreams, love and amazing journalism. She just finished working on an incredible special on child abuse and it was fantastic. We will get through this and there will be justice. Your thoughts and prayers mean the world to me.”
After allegedly ambushing the two WDBJ employees, Flanagan shot and killed himself. In an alarming 23-page suicide note to ABC News, the disgruntled former employee claimed to have carried out the shooting in response to the Charleston church shooting on June 17.
In the manifesto, Flanagan called Virginia Tech mass killer, Seung-Hui Cho, his “boy.”
