Off the wire
• 1st LD Writethru: Ocean cleaner wins top Danish design award  • Interview: People-to-people exchange helps U.S. state, Chinese province build close ties  • Brazilian president calls on rivals to 'respect' her election win  • Chinese-built solar power project benefits locals in Cameroon  • Feature: High spirits at Cyprus Limassol's Wine Festival  • Austria sees second-hottest summer on record  • EU bank to enhance investment in Western Balkans  • Roundup: U.S. stocks extend gains on uplifting data  • Lesotho's former PM sets condition for returning home  • Feature: Sand sculpture captures key moment in British history  
You are here: 　 Home

Father of slain Virginia TV reporter vows to fight for gun control

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The father of a young TV reporter killed in an on-air interview Wednesday called U.S. lawmakers "cowards" on Thursday and vowed to fight for gun control.

"It's senseless that her life and Adam's life were taken by a crazy person with a gun," Andy Parker, the bereaved father of 24-year-old Alison Parker, one of the two reporters killed Wednesday in Virginia while doing a live program, told CNN.

Bashing lawmakers at both states and here in Washington for "kick(ing) the can down the road" on gun control issues, Parker said he would not rest "until I see something happen" on gun control.

Alison Parker and her workplace partner 27-year-old photographer Adam Ward, both from Virginia-based WDBJ-TV, were gunned down by Vester Flanigan, a disgruntled former employee from the same TV station Wednesday morning.

Flanigan, 41, with a history of workplace conflicts at both a Florida-based TV station and WDBJ-TV, was dismissed from WDBJ-TV two years ago, and was escorted out of the building by police, said station general manager Jeffrey Marks.

According to ABC News, which had obtained legal documents of a lawsuit filed by Flanigan against WDBJ-TV in 2014, station managers once told Flanigan to seek medical attention and that his behavior in the workplace made co-workers feel threatened and uncomfortable.

The lawsuit, in which Flanigan alleged racial and sexual discrimination, was dismissed.

Despite his history of confronting colleagues at workplace and his former employer's suggestion that he should seek medical attention, Flanigan appeared to pass Virginia's firearms purchase eligibility test and legally bought his gun, said ABC News.

"I'm for the Second Amendment, but there has to be a way to force politicians that are cowards and in the pockets of the NRA (National Rifle Association) to come to grips and make sense, have sensible laws so crazy people can't get guns," said Parker.

After Wednesday's shooting, Obama again expressed his frustration over failure to pass stricter gun control legislation during his term in office, saying the United States needs to ensure that "people who have problems, people who shouldn't have guns, don't have them." Endit