WDBJ Morning Crew Report Colleagues’ Deaths, Tearfully Remember Them

Two hours after two reporters from Roanoke's CBS affiliate, WDBJ, were shot, station manager Jeff Marks went on air to report the deaths of Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27. 

"Our hearts are broken," Marks said. Everyone, he said, are "holding back tears."

Adam Ward was engaged to another WDBJ producer Melissa Ott. And Alison was dating the morning show producer, Chris Hurst. "Chris has said it's OK to say that he and and Alison were an item," Marks stated early on. 

Anchor Kimberly McBroom repeatedly called Parker a "rock star."

"You throw anything at that girl and she could do it," McBroom said.

"They were special people," McBroom said. "They would brighten up a room. Every morning we're all sleepy, but they would come in like gangbusters ... Alison would come in, just kinda bouncing, happy to start her day."

Ward recently told McBroom, she said, "I'm going to get out of news. I think I'm going to do something else."

"You can hear people in the control room crying," an anchor said. 

"We are choosing not to run the video again," Marks said. "Because frankly we don't need to see that again."