Southwest Florida TV reporters honor slain colleagues

As WINK-TV and NBC-2 news reporters were taping people lining up at the Wednesday morning opening of the Estero Walmart, a gunman killed two of their CBS colleagues in Moneta, Virginia, on a similar assignment.

“The horror of it playing out on live television is what gets to you," said Kellie Burns, an NBC-2 anchor based in Fort Myers, finding similarities in the early morning business reports from low-crime areas.

WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, died at the scene; Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, was shot in the back and was recovering Wednesday after surgery.

Burns said that because the killer shot the trio while they were airing live, station managers are concerned that any time a mentally ill person wants notoriety, they may target TV crews.

“Certainly our newsroom managers and live crews are on edge tonight as they go out into the field,” she said.

Detective Sgt. Dana Coston, of the Cape Coral Police Department, was among the first in law enforcement to issue condolences to the local media on the deaths and warn of possible copycats. With the potential to reach millions of people, the chance at infamy could attract criminals.

"The fact that it was on live television, during a live broadcast, brings it to a whole new level," Burns said.

Brent Stuense, marketing director at Fort Myers-based Fox 4, said the station has measures in place to protect reporters, but reporters have to remain vigilant.

"The best thing we can do is be aware of our surroundings," Stuense said. "If you saw any of the footage, even the shooter's footage, that news crew had no awareness that he was behind them."

The killer was wearing a Go-Pro and videotaped the incident, posting it online before killing himself after being spotted by police.

Parker was conducting an interview outdoors about an anniversary celebration at Smith Mountain Lake, as Ward videotaped. As the camera panned to Parker, multiple shots rang out and the women screamed.The camera fell, showing a blurry image of the gunman. The control room cut the feed quickly, but the camera continued to record. Ward's girlfriend was a production manager watching the feed.

Stations worldwide aired portions of the incident throughout the morning.

"All major networks broke in today; that tells you of the severity and the heinousness and the sheer tragedy of it," Struense said.

Representatives at WINK, a CBS affiliate, declined comment.

Burns' co-worker, reporter Tim Wronka, worked with Parker, guiding her as an intern at a Harrisonburg, Virginia, station, while Christie Andrews, an anchor at ABC7, worked with her in South Carolina.

"She was an awesome person with a really great future ahead of her," Wronka said. He had talked to her on her birthday last week, catching up on her plans to become an anchor. "Alison never said anything about being worried."

Andrews recalled Parker as an ambitious go-getter.

"Newsrooms are very stressful sometimes, she always brought such a bright light to that," she said. "She had so much ahead of her, such a great girl."

Wronka and Andrews said her death reminds them they have to be careful in the field.

"We’re not invincible just because we have a camera," Andrews said. "I do think this is a scary reminder for all of us."

Wronka said his focus narrows when he's on camera.

"You're not really aware of your surroundings, and you need to be," he said.

While journalists often face death, and 39 journalists have died on the job this year, it’s usually in a war zone or nation in turmoil, away from the public's eye.

“This crew didn’t sign up for that,” Burns said. “They were at a shopping mall in a seemingly safe neighborhood.”

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