After opening fire on Alison Parker, a 24-year-old reporter for WDBJ-TV in Virginia, and Adam Ward, her 27-year-old cameraman, Bryce Williams (pictured) reportedly faxed a 23-page manifesto to ABC News before calling up the network to confess to the killings.
ABC published portions of the document, which reveal Williams’ claim that one of his motivations for the shootings was the mistreatment he felt he received for being a gay black man.
He also wrote that he was inspired by Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Chon (“That’s my boy right there”) and, oddly enough, the Charleston massacre allegedly carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof.
From ABC News:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
In one part of the document, Williams calls it a “Suicide Note for Friends and Family.”
—He says has suffered racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at work.
—He says he has been attacked by black men and white females.
—He talks about how he was attacked for being a gay, black man
“Yes, it will sound like I am angry…I am. And I have every right to be. But when I leave this Earth, the only emotion I want to feel is peace….”
“The church shooting was the tipping point…but my anger has been building steadily…I’ve been a human powder keg for a while…just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”.
After being chased by police, Williams shot himself. He was taken to a hospital where the Virginia secretary of public safety, Brian Moran, reported he died at 1:26 p.m.
h/t: Gawker
Giancarlo85
He brought up the church shooting… did shooting ever solve anything? This is a tragedy. But this man is nothing more than a monster and he shouldn’t be treated as any differently. Taking the lives of others solves nothing.
Alex Hernandez
Nobody cares what this psychos sexuality is nor should it matter.
Peter McKinney
I was wondering when gay media would say something.
On the plus side, this seems to have wiped the black punditry right off of
the CNN and MSNBC broadcasts.
Two articles from Black Voices on the shooting of three white people by a black racist who declared he wanted to start a race war:
First one was focused on his history of race claims.
Second one is all about defending BlackLivesMatter.
Now he will become a “gay killer”. Ugh.
Atrius
@Giancarlo85: I agree, but how unAmerican of us…
DDstar1me
How sad. And using your sexuality and race as an excuse to take someone’s life is bullshit. This man was full of shit. And I don’t believe he was even gay. Gay men don’t go on shooting rampages. They just don’t. Right?
Sam Noti
He died in the hospital, SORRY I wouldn’t have called for help until he drew his last breath he was just a murderer period & that’s how he should be Remembered..
BJ McFrisky
His race nor his sexuality nor gun laws were relevant — the man was a psycho, plain and simple. Allow that to be reason enough.
May he rot where it’s hot.
dwes09
@BJ McFrisky: Gun laws are entirely relevant. Too many guns, too many murders. It is that simple. The statistics here and in the rest of the developed world show this to be true.
And no, neither his race nor sexuality matter. But his easy access to guns did, does and certainly will in the future.
But, I have seen from other comments that you are right wing and quite possibly straight, so please don’t bother to rebut. Your rebuttal will be baseless and people will just laugh at you.
lykeitiz
“Two innocent white people gunned down by armed black man”…..said NO headline EVER.
Just watch. His orientation will be discussed in every report…..the racial motivation will be pushed to the side.
Sandy Novak
Victim. Victim. Victim. What a piece of work.
Bob LaBlah
@lykeitiz: His sexual orientation SHOULD be brought up because if he was disturbed enough to do something like this imagine the things he no doubt did to others (let me ADMIT that is an assumption). In the NYDailynews.com it is reported that he was a high paid companion and he bragged about it on his Facebook page only a few days ago. He posted pictures of himself from those days and even though he has a fair body the expression on his face indicates he thinks he has “something” to offer that aint exactly there, body beautiful.
This is what happens when reality sets in to those who were “kept” when they were younger and thought their looks and sex would never fade away. It did and his temper/mentality could not handle it. Imagine going thru life and thinking the day will never come when all heads DONT turn because you walked into the room. There are people like that out there and he was one of them. White people did not do this to him. He did it himself by not accepting reality.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gunman-posts-video-showing-fatal-shooting-tv-reporter-article-1.2337769
DDstar1me
Folks try to stay on topic. Don’t let-lykeitiz race bate you in this comment section.
Cagnazzo82
Evil is evil period. I’m not interested in hearing the justification of murderers, period.
Alistair Wiseman
@dwes09:
“But, I have seen from other comments that you are right wing and quite possibly straight, so please don’t bother to rebut.”
Because you love diversity so much?
barkomatic
This is an awful tragedy committed by a mentally ill man. We should focus on how we should do a better job to keep weapons out of the hands of disturbed people.
Daniel-Reader
Giancarlo? That’s italian, right? Your comment about shooting is ridiculous. Think WWII. Italian fascists weren’t politely talked out of leaving Italy. Also, countless LGBT and Alled people have guns to protect themselves from violence in the USA. It is the USA after all, where even many politicians scream to the high heavens about their desert-god-given right to violate other people’s human rights. It’s really sad, but the reality in the USA and many places elsewhere.
Ryan Damon
This matters exactly how??
Clark35
@Cagnazzo82: Exactly. Plus had he not been psycho and the professional victim type he would have found that most people including black men and white women are accepting of bisexual and gay black men.
Giancarlo85
@Daniel-Reader: You are another right wing nutcase who is totally mentally braindead. I am not Italian. But that is a nice try. You’re just an idiot troll that doesn’t think on your own. What does your stupid fucking comment have to do with anything I rote? Countless LGBT and Allied people? Are you on drugs? Because your comment seems psychotic and drug induced. Next time take a moment to actually read what I posted. You fucking idiot.
Giancarlo85
@Alistair Wiseman: And you don’t because you insult people with left wing political views. Maybe you should start using your little mind a little more.
Are you related to that idiot Daniel Reader? He made a completely off the wall comment that makes no sense at all. Guns don’t solve a fucking thing. Did Gandhi use a gun? Did Nelson Mandela? I didn’t think so.
Maybe you right wing nuts need to learn the facts before you spout off bullshit…
Giancarlo85
@Daniel-Reader: By the way, if you want ridiculous try to read what you wrote. It doesn’t make any sense. And stay away from red herrings. Guns should be highly restricted. Guns aren’t a “god given right”. Moron.
Brian
It’s funny how the gay community likes to use the word “gay” when it’s a positive story, such as a gay hero who saves lives. But when it’s an evil gay person, the gay community acts as if gay isn’t important.
You can’t have it both ways.
Giancarlo85
@Brian: Oh please… give me a break. You’re just another right wing idiot. Yes, we can have it both ways. You want to know why? Somebody who kills someone is no hero. Just another right wing brain dead type.
Joseph C Landis-Midnight
When I heard the gay thing on the news I yelled “noooooo” out loud. Just because the right wing will try to turn it into a gay issue.
Ladbrook
@Giancarlo85: God-given? No… but they are, as of now, a Constitutional right, so if we are to eliminate legal gun ownership in this country, one needs to start with repealing the second amendment, which is a lofty goal, and probably an unattainable one.
In the meantime, we do need tighter controls on who can own one. Let’s start with the mentally ill and go from there. Also, much stronger punishments for those who allow access to their guns by their nutty teenagers, neighbors, etc…
And in the meantime, guns do solve problems every day in this country. Thousands of people use them to defend their homes and families, especially in rural areas and inner cities, where police response times are problematic. And speaking as a legal gun owner, I define someone breaking into my house at 2am as VERY problematic, and I will defend myself. A stranger can try to get in if he likes, but he’ll be leaving on a stretcher. Trust me on that one.
Gunther Hofmeister
The face of pure evil. So sad the man was gay as it will now turn in to another reason why gays are bad.
Glücklich
There’s someone in my office who’s really tightly wound with a sometimes explosive temper. *We* get along fine but I wouldn’t want to be the one to let him go. Good thing he does excellent work so there’s little risk of his becoming a disgruntled former employee.
Giancarlo85
@Ladbrook: I’m not advocating the repealing of the second amendment, but like the overwhelming majority of this country I am in favor of increased restrictions (even such as background checks). If you think I’m advocating a complete ban, point out where.
Guns do not solve a fucking thing and never will. In areas like innercities, many guns end up stolen from their owners and ending up on the streets. So bringing more guns into the area do nothing but make everything much worse. You’re wrong on that point. Totally wrong!
Giancarlo85
Whenever I hear these gun owners claim they are doing it in self defense, what if your guns end up stolen and used against you? Questions they can never answer because they don’t like hearing these questions. This is why I as an urban dweller will not own a weapon. And I am originally from Medellin, Colombia (NOT Italy). I’ve seen how fucked up guns make an area (and an entire country)… and how throwing more guns at a situation will do nothing but make it worse. Maybe start by addressing issues like poverty, lack of education, lack of land (this is more an issue in my country)…
sportyguy1983
Another tragedy to act as an excuse for hysterical anti-gun people to scream “stricter gun laws” but they never say what stricter laws would actually have stopped this.
Sam Noti
Who to blame—–It’s the guns fault
Tim Ryan
OMG are you kidding me! Why would you care about his orientation. Your just taking away from the fact that two innocent people were killed
Masc Pride
This guy looks like a cross between a bulldog and a pig.
@Brian: I’ve noticed that too. We have to take the bad with the good like everyone else.
Masc Pride
@sportyguy1983: Exactly! If laws could actually stop crazy people, prisons wouldn’t be running out of room.
Jessie A Midnight-Landis
He is just a regular crazy and full of self pity.
Desert Boy
He filed a complaint with the EEOC, who investigated his claims and they found there was no veracity to his charges. Vester Flanagan was a nutcase. Period.
Giancarlo85
@sportyguy1983: And having no regulation certainly didn’t stop it?
@Masc Pride: Somalia has no laws. Maybe you should move there.
Just more pro-gun nutcase banter.
jwtraveler
Watch the right-wing gun nuts start refusing to sell guns to gay people. Defending the religious freedom of white, Christian fascists.
Me2
@Desert Boy: Pervasive racism is EVERYWHERE, so it’s not impossible to think he was made to feel less than – especially in Virginia. However, his actions transcend race, as he’s no different than a bullied outcast, of any ethnicity, who goes on a violent rampage out of anger and frustration. The term “going postal” comes to mind here.
Just like everyone else, I too, am thoroughly horrified & disgusted by his actions. NO ONE DESERVED TO DIE!!! But I’m equally concerned about workplace culture and safety, as a whole. Not everyone is able to rise above ignorance, especially the mentally ill, and NONE of us know what can or will set someone else off.
Billy Budd
The selling of Guns must be restricted, like it is here in Brazil. You can’t carry firearms in the streets of my country. It is forbidden. You must keep your weapons at home.
judysdad
I hate real guns. I do, however, like imaginary guns. I use mine numerous times every day to blow away every single person I see walking around staring into their fucking phones.
On another note, I’ve finally reached the tipping point where this country is concerned. I no longer have either love or respect for it. If it weren’t so difficult and expensive, I’d be outta here locality split. (And yeah, I could be living in Libya or Iran, so Don’t even bother going there…)
Kangol
@Joseph C Landis-Midnight: It’s already being presented as a r@cial/r@cist issue. I don’t think the right wing cares about the sexuality aspect if r@ce is at the forefront. For right-wingers in the US, r@ce>gender>sexuality.
The fact that the murderer invoked the terrible Charleston massacre as a rationale for his actions, along with his previous history of claiming r@cial discrimination (which does exist, though whether he suffered what he claimed is another issue, and even if he did that is still NO excuse for murdering other people) means that his hom0sexuality won’t really register in media or national consciousness.
As another poster mentioned, the fixation is on a black man killing two white people.
Alistair Wiseman
@Giancarlo85:
“…did shooting ever solve anything?”
Well, for the last 200 years it has solved many wars.
So much so, if it wasn’t for “shooting”, there is a good bet that you and millions of others would not have immigrated here to the U.S.
Giancarlo85
@Alistair Wiseman: No it hasn’t because wars are still going on and nothing has been solved. Millions are dying all over the world because of guns. You’re a naive idiot if you think anything has been solved.
And I forgot one word… “did THAT shooting ever solve anything?”. You love twisting and distorting shit. I think you have a very dangerous mental condition. Gandhi and Mandela did not need guns to accomplish their goals.
Moron.
Daniel-Reader
Giancarlo: You’re really ignorant not knowing Giancarlo has its origins as an italian name. You’re just making everything up you say as a troll.
Giancarlo85
@Daniel-Reader: YOU IDIOT. I do NOT CARE. I have stated time and time again that I am from South America. I’m not making up anything. YOu can’t even read a proper sentence. You brought up World War II. WHat the fuck does that have to do with this thread? Are you this stupid in person? Demented troll… go back to NEWSMAX!
Fucking moron. If you want to see who is making things up look in the mirror for a change!
Giancarlo85
@Giancarlo85: *You can’t even write a proper sentence. You can’t read either! LOL.
Franklin
When I heard about this incident my heart immediately went out for the families of the victims. This is terrible tragedy. However, when I found out the shooter was black my heart sank, because sadly in this country a significant portion of the population wrongly considers what one person does a reflection on the entire group that person belongs to. And, the truth is whether you choose to believe it or not, white peoples opinions of brown people have greater implications than brown peoples opinions of white people. How do you ask? Well consider the fact that as a brown person when I apply for a job I am most likely to be sitting across the table from someone who does’t look like me. When I get pulled over by the police, I am most likely to be dealing with an officer of the law who does’t look like me. When I rent an apartment, I most likely will speaking to a landlord who doesn’t look like me. When I write my congressmen or senator I will most likely be speaking to a congressmen or senator who doesn’t look like me. White people doing bad things, results in strong condemnations in the media and court of public opinion. Brown people doing bad things change laws and shifts public policy.
Sansacro
@Masc Pride: “Crazy” people belong in psychiatric hospitals with proper healthcare (lacking in our country), not behind bars. Prisons are running out of space because prison has become big-business and because of insane drug laws that target the poor. Research it, if you want. You can start here: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/sep/13/drug_sentences_driving_federal_p
Sansacro
@Franklin: hear you, man. But mentally ill people come in all races and sexualities. If others are going to blame a group for an individual, it’s pretty clear that that person is looking for a scapegoat for their prejudices. To hell with such morons.
Sansacro
@Alistair Wiseman: Uh, seems to me like guns started the problem, but wtf. WWII ended because of the atom bomb, maybe we should use more of those.
Seriously, man, the mentally ill or unemployed loners with a history of rants and raves in public platforms should not be able to purchase a gun. The goal is to limit these crimes and make them less likely. Obviously, you can’t eradicate gun violence any more than you can cheating spouses, But we can definitely do better.
Captain Obvious
Mental illness doesn’t count as an excuse for non-white people. Lets debate his crazed rantings and actions to death as if anything he said or did made sense because he was black.
Really worth dissecting and “investigating”.
A mentally ill man killed two innocent people and blamed them for his problems. That’s literally never happened before in the history of the world.
This isn’t about race, sexuality, or anything else but the guy’s own issues in his head that got way out of control. Period.
In the end he’s a murderer who refused to seek help for his illness/imbalance/whatever.
The fact that this is getting so much coverage is completely inane. It’s clear he snapped and nothing he had to say will ever make any sense. Would you listen to a crazy person on a bus? No. So why are you listening to a crazy person’s manifesto? Especially when he’s freaking dead.
Maleko
@barkomatic: On the weapons front, it’s pretty straight forward really: require all guns to be stored in a safe manner, a ‘safe manner’ being one in which the gun cannot just be picked up and fired; all guns should, by law, be stored with a quality trigger guard in place. They are very inexpensive and once properly applied to the trigger of a gun, that gun can’t fire until the trigger guard is removed, using the key for that particular device. As for doing something about crazy people that murder people for the hell of it, the law already tries to keep guns out of their hands once they have been identified. But crazy people don’t walk around with sings posted on their clothes indicating that they are crazy. Again, if every gun is stored with a trigger guard, a simple, but very effective safety device, when a crazy person get hold of someones gun, they won’t be able to fire it. The way you enforce this requirement is to make the gun owner responsible for acts taken with that gun the owner’s responsibility; if your 6 yr old grandchild is visiting your home and he finds a gun and somehow fires it, killing or injuring someone, the owner is responsible for what happened with that gun if it didn’t have a trigger guard on it. IF the gun has a trigger guard on it, and your 6 yr-old gets his hands on it, the gun can’t be fired and so no damage gets done. With a trigger guard, the gun isn’t really a ‘gun’ in that it cannot be fired; guns that cannot be fired don’t kill or injured very many people, obviously and that is the point.
Maleko
The only problem with this story is that the nutcase didn’t shoot himself first: nobody gets shot after that so not innocent person(s) get killed or injured.
OrchidIslander
@Joseph C Landis-Midnight: Like you, after reading the story and seeing this disturbed person’s photo, I also yelled “noooooo!” Being a “twofer” – black and gay – both of the groups that I identify with will somehow be found to be culpable. Ironically, my family wants to talk more about this loon’s gay aspect, while “family” is all about him being black.
SeeingAll
Maybe he did suffer a lot of racism and homophobia at work and, being unstable anyway, just lost it.
SeeingAll
@Captain Obvious: How do you know his victims were “innocent” ?
Sluggo2007
Just another whacko loser blaming everyone else for his problems.
Chris-Tyler Young
And his sexual orientation is relevant because…??? He straight up EXECUTED two people on live television. He did this in reaction, according to his manifesto, to Dylan Roof and the Charleston Execution. This man and his actions are no better than Dylan Roof. 77k people have died in gun related violence in the US this year alone. I don’t care where you stand in regards to racism, gun violence, gay rights or whatever. You have to admit that we have a serious problem with several interconnected systems (mental health, gun control, media sensationalism etc). Something’s gotta give.
BJ McFrisky
@sportyguy1983: Look at current gun laws. Chicago, New York, D.C. all have uber-strict gun laws, and yet have the highest gun murder rates. In cities which allow residents to carry, there strangely seem to be a dearth of gun crimes.
BJ McFrisky
@dwes09: I’m neither right-wing nor straight, but nice try.
Steve Russell
Ted Bundy was straight. All straight people must be serial killers. “Sarcasm “
onthemark
@BJ McFrisky: More proof that you’ve been living under a rock.
In 1990 NYC had over 2,000 murders and in 2014 just over 300. The safest big city in the US by far.
In the same period DC cut its murder rate to less than 1/4 of what it had been, before it rose a bit recently. Chicago cut it over half.
The gun homicide rate per capita is much higher in the Southern states that love guns, methamphetamines, the death penalty and Jesus (in that order, I’m sure). Gun homicides in the red states happen a lot in rural areas, while in rural areas up north – despite an abundance of hunting rifles – they are uncommon.
Clark35
@Masc Pride: In his manifesto he claimed he earned thousands as a male prostitute, who would actually want him?
Clark35
@Sluggo2007: Exactly.
Masc Pride
@Sansacro: Crazy can be a broad and subjective term. There are lots of crazies on Queerty too. If we’re to institutionalize all the crazies, psych wards will run out of room just like the prisons. As far as the prison stuff, how about if these criminals just stop peddling drugs? I love how that’s always conveniently left out of the proposed solution(s) like selling drugs is an involuntary action. It’s a choice they make while being fully aware that it’s unlawful.
@Clark35: Maybe guys with bestiality fantasies? lol
jwtraveler
@lykeitiz: Is there any evidence that race was a motivation in this case? NO.
The white guy who killed the 9 black people in Charleston was clearly motivated by racism.
Jeff Scott
NO ISSUE! Stop spreading this type of non-news. NO killer in history was ever identified as “straight”. Sad that this is being talked abut.
Captain Obvious
@SeeingAll: Even if they weren’t he’s the one who messed up by not reporting it properly and choosing to go postal. I faced this kind of harassment once for a month straight, even physical, and sexual harassment. I chose to leave, no retaliation, no suing, I removed it from my life, and moved on to save myself.
People like this guy are their own worst enemy. You have to choose your battles. Even in death if they did harass him then they still won because they still look innocent and his name is destroyed.
If we choose to let r@cists get our goat and make us act out then they win and we look crazy. If you ignore them and refuse to give them the attention they crave then they lose and look like the children that they are.
There’s no excuse for shooting unarmed people. Bullying is not an excuse, not for teens, and not for adults.
onthemark
@jwtraveler: Except he specifically said, in writing, he was inspired/pissed by the Charleston church shooter (among other things).
Giancarlo85
@onthemark: Right. LA has also cut its crime rate drastically. LA now has a crime rate lower than what it had when it was a smaller city. I think it’s at a 40 or 50 year low.
Republican states are some of the most impoverished, crime ridden states out there. Even a state like Louisiana (which Bobby Asshole Jindal drove into the ground).
Blackceo
This guy was a very disturbed individual. I was horrified at the first person video I saw of him shooting those people. I have mixed views about gun legislation but definitely believe there should be much tighter controls on background checks and where guns should be able to be sold, limits on the types of guns sold and magazine clips that can hold a ridiculous amount of bullets. Honestly though, I don’t think that any sort of legislation would have prevented this. He went through the proper channels to get the gun and didn’t have anything in his background that would’ve raised a red flag the he would’ve done this. So tragic.
Will Moor
@Joseph C Landis-Midnight: and you are right. They are. The right is already saying that a “rainbow hate flag” was found in his apartment. http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2015/08/breitbart-rainbow-hate-flag-found-in-virginia-killers-apartment/
@Captain Obvious: I actually agree with you on this one.
But people are already doing the whole “See, this is what black people do!” and “See, this is what gay people do!” thing. If he had been white and straight not a word would have been said about either.
Will Moor
@Blackceo: Just tragic and horrifying all around.
dwbyers1960
It just goes to show you that all gays have mental issues.
Giancarlo85
@dwbyers1960: You’re the one with mental issues. You want to hurt people. But hey, I can bring up Timothy McVeigh… shows all right wing white men have mental problems.
Nat Jones
More to the point, if he was being harrased for being gay when in the job how can you now claim that he has ‘revealed’ his sexual orientation?
Louis
This mans sexual orientation doesn’t matter what matters is he was a troubled person who should have sought psychiatric help instead of taking the lives of 2 people in cold blood then posting video of what he had done bragging about it.
Louis
@dwbyers1960: Grow up that’s a childish and intentionally provoking comment to make and you knew it was.
So childish.