WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were shot and killed during a live broadcast at Bridgewater Plaza, an outdoor shopping mall at Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, on the morning of August 26th, 2015.
The Roanoke station was on location broadcasting a live interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, who was also shot and seriously injured but survived. The shooter, Vester Lee Flanagan also known as Bryce Williams, was a former WDBJ anchor who was fired by the station in 2013. He fled the scene and was caught by police some 200 miles away in Fauquier County after shooting himself while driving. He died shortly afterwards in hospital.
A set of viewfinder binoculars with views towards the lake were erected at the site in September 2015 as a permanent memorial, with a brass plaque that reads:
In memory of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
