Shot in cold blood Aug. 23 on camera at WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va. by former reporter Vester Flanagan, station manager Jeff Marks blamed the deaths of his two young journalists Allison Parker, 24, and photographer Adam Ward, 27 on a broken mental health system. “Embrace mental illness, just as we do cancer or ALS or heart disease. Mental illness should not be on the periphery of health care. It should be obvious that it needs to be center stage, because most mental illness is treatable if we can get to the sufferer. In this case we didn’t,” said Marks. While everything Marks said is true, he’s diverts attention away from more practical security fixes he neglected at WDBJ. Fired in Feb. 2013 for making terrorist threats against fellow employees, Flanagan, who broadcasted as Bryce Williams, returned to the station Wednesday, Aug. 23, entered the newsroom and murdered Parker and Ward, killing himself shortly after a police pursuit.
Marks wants to divert attention to the nation’s mental health system or gun laws, too often leaving guns in the hands of mentally ill assassins. Whether or not it’s true that perpetrators of gun violence are mentally ill, Marks should have prevented the lax security that left his newsroom exposed to an attack by a disgruntled former employee. When he left the station in Feb. 2013, Flanagan was known to exhibit dangerous behavior. “He said there’s a situation here, and if you call the newsroom, nobody’s going to answer because they were all told to leave,” said Justin Ward, admitting that now deceased Adam Ward told him about Flanagan’s dangerous last day. Instead of beefing up security, making it difficult for a violent former employee to go postal, Marks blamed the unthinkable crime on longstanding problems with the nation’s gun laws and mental health system. Marks failed to provide his newsroom adequate security.
Fixing the nation’s mental health system or gun laws take time, requiring Congress to get involved, regardless of pleas of parents who lost their children, including Parker and Adams, to senseless gun violence. Debating Flanagan’s twisted motives, including whether he wanted to retaliate against 21-year-old white supremacist Dylan Roof’s July 20 massacre at Charleston’s First AME Church killing nine blacks in bible study, will never be fully known. What’s known for sure is that he suffered from mental illness, unable to control his paranoia and anger, taking his rage out on Parker and Adams. No one expects Roanoke’s WDBJ’s station manager to fix the nation’s mental health or gun control problems. What Marks should have done was change the keys, provide extra security and hire a security guard to protect his newsroom against Flanagan’s terrorist threats. Talking about the nation’s failed mental health system of gun laws cleverly disguises Marks’ liability.
Parker’s distraught parents, Andy and Barbara, pleaded with the government to do more about the nation’s failed gun laws. “This is what she would want me to do,” said Allison’s father Andy, vowing to keep the heat on the media and Congress until he gets satisfaction. Instead of assessing what really happened, Marks succeeded at taking the heat off himself and WDBJ for failing to provide adequate security to his newsroom. Even without Flanagan’s terrorist threats, Marks should have had new locks on the doors and instructions to WDBJ staff to keep him off the premises at all costs. Hiring a security guard would have been the least of Marks’ duties following Flanagan’s Feb. 2013 firing. “Our mental health system is not perfect. It needs a lot of work. But services exist and we must use them for ourselves and for those we know with uncontrolled anger. We must learn to speak directly to anger,” said Marks, sounding like a mental health expert.
Instead of admitting he failed to provide WDBJ adequate security, Marks prefers to place blame on failed gun laws and mental health system. Had Marks hired a security guard, he could have prevented Flanagan from killing two of his prized employees. Parker and Adams died because WDBJ lacked the security to keep them safe at work. Whatever Flanagan’s mental illness or beef with his employer, necessary security steps were not taken to protect WDBJ personnel. Lecturing memorial service for Parker and Adams about problems with gun laws and the mental health system, Marks takes no responsibility for his role in failing to protect his station from potential violence. Too many senseless acts of gun violence have been perpetrated by mentally ill gun owners. Fixing the mental health system or gun laws is out-of-bounds for WDBJ’s station manager. Had he changed the locks, notified the staff or hired a security guard, Parker and Adams might still be alive.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma
