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CNN NEWSROOM

WDBJ Family Remembers Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired August 27, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[15:30:00] KELLY ZUBER, NEW DIRECTOR, WDBJ: It's bad to know that he's been shot but worse when you're the producer and it's live. We are all and I would ask you on behalf of the family to respect their privacy. This is a really, really difficult time for her and she is -- has family around her right now and is really doing the best she can to cope. This will be a long recovery for her and we are going to wrap our arms around her and hold her like we are doing with everybody else.

JEFFREY MARKS, GENERAL MANAGER, WDBJ: One more. Anybody? Well, thank you for letting us do this all at once and for letting us share with you what we feel is pertinent. I want to echo what Kelly was implying, was that this is all about loss and grief and moving forward and service to the community and our connection with the community. This is less about a dead man who made other -- two other people dead. Except to the extent that there may be any lessons to learn. But that will take time. This is the day after. And tomorrow is the day after the day after. It's just going to take time for us to heal and for all of us in the Roanoke area and to deal with this.

And I want to just, for the moment, remember them with fondness and appreciation for the people they were and what they meant to our news organization. Take care. Thank you.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: The general manager there and the news director of this TV station. It's a CNN affiliate. Look at -- it's really a family. All standing behind them in support. What an image. Wearing those teal and maroon ribbons in honor of 27-year-old Adam Ward and 24-year-old Alison Parker, their favorite colors. What a loss. We stand with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:30] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And really, for the last half hour we have been hearing from both the general manager and the news director of WDBJ, a CNN affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, just absolutely suffering tremendous loss after 24- year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old Adam Ward were murdered on live television yesterday morning.

I should also remind everyone, Vicki Gardener, the executive director of the chamber of commerce, she was shot as well. She's recovering in the hospital in stable condition. And I'm sure investigators will be speaking to her once she's able to speak and recover from all of this. But we've learned a little bit more about how this newsroom is coping with this and also a little bit about the shooter and his past.

So I have Victor Blackwell. He's standing just outside of that TV station in Roanoke where that news conference just took place.

And Victor, I mean, I was taking a lot of notes. But I think especially the detail, with the general manager who said it was the day that the shooter was fired and walked out of the building and on his way out. He handed then news director a wooden cross and looked him in the eye and said, you will need this.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, there were many details that we heard from the general manager at WDBJ about that day. And I believe it was in February of 2013 in which he told that news director then that you'll need to call the police because I'm going to make a stink and it's going to be in the headlines.

And we know that there were several opportunities, according to the general manager here, that they gave Bryce Williams to clean up his act. After having the run-ins with Adam Ward and other members of the team there, confronting an anchor in the hallway and they thought that was the day in which they had to separate themselves, separate him from the company. But can we take just a moment to respect the aesthetic, the image of the team standing there.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLACKWELL: With the teal and maroon ribbons paying tribute to their fallen colleagues. Of course, they had to talk about their issues with Bryce Williams and how they left the company. But to say that they will march ahead and march forth together and hold on to Melissa Ott, who is the fiancee of Adam Ward. You know, one detail that we learned overnight is that her wedding dress was delivered on the same day that her fiancee was shot and killed on a show that she produced on live television. I mean, imagine that.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine that. And knowing that, you know, I know we've heard from Alison Parker's father and he has said his soul is crushed. He spoke with his daughter each and every day and, you know, respecting the wishes of Adam's family and of the fiancee, you know, wanting their privacy and understandably so, you know. And I think just to reiterate your point, these ribbons, you know, this teal was Alison's favorite color, marine was Adam's favorite color from his beloved al mater Virginia Tech. And also the detail, Victor, I mean, it's the little things, what this news director was saying, Adam's car is still sitting in the TV station parking lot with clothes inside.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we heard this story, this anecdote about the meteorologist, who saw a candy wrapper, the candy that Adam Ward ate often and lost it there. I mean, these will be very difficult and sensitive moments, but we all have to respect that this news team has not missed a broadcast, they go on every day. We've heard that they have -- some team members have been huddled crying 30 minutes before the broadcast, but they go on and do their jobs just as their co- workers would have wanted them to.

[15:40:007] BALDWIN: Victor Blackwell, thank you so much, in Roanoke, Virginia.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

BALDWIN: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk to our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter on how this TV station moves forward. What a unique situation. What an awful unique situation for them. They are the story. They have to march forward and cover the story. Much more after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:44:52] BALDWIN: All right. We are just getting information here into CNN on what authorities found in the gunman's car on the side of the road there in Virginia. And so I'm just glancing down. I have a copy. This is the search inventory. This is what law enforcement wrote down.

So as part of this list, this is what they found in the car, topping it with a glock pistol and a phone and a case, going down ammunition, six glock magazine, assorted handwritten and typewritten notes. We know he sent that 23-page fax to ABC News in the overnight hours but in addition to that, it looks like he had 17 stamped letters were found in his car. There was a briefcase with three different license plates. Keep in mind, this is the car. Remember they were searching this all of yesterday. They were processing the scene.

So three different license plates he had, wigs, a shawl, umbrella and sunglasses and a black hat. So a lot of questions obviously about premeditation, how long one could be planning this and also wondering if this was something where he was planning on turning the gun on himself and taking his own life relatively immediately or whether or not he had plans to disguise himself and flee authorities. So that's what we have from that -- that is the search warrant from the Virginia law enforcement.

Let me move along, though, and talk about what we just heard from the general manager and news director there at WDBJ in Roanoke. And as I talk about that, let me bring in our senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter. Because he was sitting here with me the entire time and we were watching this together. And I can't begin to put myself in their shoes. I worked in four different local stations. I know it's a family. But the fact that they now -- they are the story. This isn't like, you know, we thought about news in Baltimore, covering the protests and demonstrations there or in Charleston, South Carolina. The story is about them yet they have to, as the general manager said, march forward and cover this objectively.

[15:46:50] BRIAN STELTER CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I continue to be awe struck by their composure on camera. And yet, you know, I was looking at pictures in the newsroom early this morning before they were on air. You can tell that they are a wreck. You know, some of these staffers have been crying before going on air. They have been -- as we heard at the press conference, noticing little bits and pieces reminding them of their colleagues and they can feel that pain in a very real way. And yet they go on and do broadcast.

Just now after the press conference, the anchor was anchoring locally said she was thanking the community for all of the donations, all of the food, all of the emails, the flowers. She said there's been too many to count from the community members and perhaps that's because, like you and I, everyone is so impressed by their performance there.

BALDWIN: When we talk about how they are covering this, we also -- part of the discussion today has been how other media outlets have been covering this.

STELTER: Yes.

BALDWIN: There's a juxtapose position, right, between let's say in "New York" tabloid, the "New York Post," and the "New York Daily News" and I'll show you the image. And we're going to gray out a lot of this because, you know, it's our policy here. You see three gray boxes because what is here, if you have a physical copy of "the New York Daily News," today. These are still images captured from the gunman's video. We are not showing this. That's why we have edited the image, but they also published the gunman's body cam on their Web site and there has been tremendous, tremendous outrage to this.

And if I may, guys, throw the image up on the screen just to see how locally in Roanoke, "the Roanoke Times," the local newspaper, if we have it, we have the image of, I can tell you, it is people -- there we go, just standing arm in arm, people in the community and the smiling faces at the top.

STELTER: Another paper the work from times dispatch made sure to put the victims' faces, a smiling image of the them instead of this shock video.

BALDWIN: Yes.

STELTER: That picture you just put up from "the Daily News," it's not what you want to wake up to in the morning. It is not something that you want to see on the newsstand. And there was an immediate outcry as soon as that cover was published last night.

The "New York Post" was almost as bad today using one of the still image as well. To some extent, tabloids will be tabloids. But there's a big difference between print and television versus the web. I believe that on the Internet, if you want to watch this video, it's going to be there. I can't stop it from being there. None of us can.

BALDWIN: But that is issue, you know. It was "the Atlantic," right, making the point about it's the automatic rolling of the video --

STELTER: Auto play.

BALDWIN: Auto play.

STELTER: This is story is actually illustrate something I've never thought about before which is the danger of auto play. We know this all the time now. We go to websites and videos start playing right away. We are doing that because we want you to watch the video and watch the ads but in a situation like this it's completely inappropriate. That video starts to play.

BALDWIN: So many people accidently saw not only live on television but --

STELTER: Yes. The story has been a wake-up call on auto play. I think on the internet there's no way to stop the videos from spreading. If you want to see this, you can see it. But you have to choose. But on the front page of a newspaper or if it's on television, you don't get that choice. And that is why for the most part, they have done the right thing but these restrained here and not showing the video over and over again.

BALDWIN: Brian Stelter, thank you so much. I know you have a lot to talk about on your show on Sunday morning.

When we come back, I mentioned at the top of the block what we're learning now. The search inventory from the gunman's car. Much more, line by line, the items he had between the wigs, the residence the license plates, the notes and a to-do list. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:10] BALDWIN: As the nation is mourning the loss of two young journalists, 24-year-old Alison Parker and 27-year-old Adam Ward, we are getting some new information from local law enforcement in Virginia, as far as what was in the car of the gunman after he, you know, veered off at the side of the road and ultimately come to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

So let me bring in our investigative correspondent Drew Griffin who has more here. I mean, I've been talking a look too at the search inventory, including 17 stamped letters, Drew?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That caught eyes as well. There is a lot of stuff in here you would expect to find in this person's car, you know, the glock pistol, the ammunition, but other things, the handwritten typed notes, the to-do list, the stamped letters, and a briefcase. And inside the briefcase, three license plates, a wig, a shawl, umbrella and sunglasses. Certainly seems to indicate there was some kind of getaway plan taking place here, and that perhaps taking his own life was not part of that plan.

I also want to point out in this, that the Virginia state troopers say they identified this person as a suspect because of a text message that he sent to a friend, making reference to have done something stupid. So that may be an early indication that they knew it was this guy before the text messages that we all saw, and that we were privy to concern the shooting that took place.

But yes, a black hat, a bag with random supplies, other ammunition, just a lot of stuff in this search warrant that seems to indicate this was a crime that he thought perhaps he might get away with or getting away from for a little while, at least, Brooke. [15:55:55] BALDWIN: Drew Griffin, thank you so much.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more from investigators in the coming days and weeks, but just awful all the way around.

Thank you so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:17] BALDWIN: As we continue to honor the two young Virginia journalists who were murdered on live television, we've just really been in awe of the strength of that local Roanoke TV station, CNN affiliate, WDBJ with their smaller staff, it's like a family. Local news rooms are really close-knit. They know one another and they're so tied in with the communities as well.

Photographer Adam Ward was engaged actually to the morning show producer who was sitting in the control room that very morning, at WDBJ and she unfortunately was watching those live images unfold. Adam is being remembered as a walking sports encyclopedia, to quote a friend of his, who absolutely loved his job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adam Ward, walking sports encyclopedia. I would like to have been able to talk sports with him more, but I wasn't in his league. And it just kills me to know the college football season is about to start and here he is gone before ever got to begin.

MARKS: Adam had so much fun playing on the company's softball team that they let me play on, too. Adam was a lot better than I was. And that's one of the reason we won the city championship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Playing for so much for football team or going to Virginia Tech or pursuing this career in sports broadcasting. He had the goals and he achieved them with relentless his work effort, and a lot of effusive joy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And we know now, we saw that entire newsroom standing strong and behind the general manager of the station and the news director wearing those ribbons. And so, when you see them, it's the teal, which is Alison's favorite color and the maroon which stands for the Virginia Tech maroon color, which was Adam's favorite color from his alma mater.

WDBJ, I said it yesterday. I'll say it again, we stand with you.

I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York. Thank you for watching.

I want to head it off to Jon Berman who is sitting in for Jake Tapper. "The LEAD" starts now.