A hideous story, as related by the BBC:
Two US journalists have been shot dead during a live TV report in the state of Virginia, their employer has confirmed.
WDBJ7 TV reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were killed during an interview in Moneta, Bedford County, the TV station said.
During the live broadcast, shots could be heard, sending the reporter and the woman she was interviewing running.
Police say they are investigating the incident and still searching for the suspect.
As I write, a good number of websites and cable news stations are featuring a video of the shooting. They should stop. The man who committed the murders — a “disgruntled employee of the station,” according to the governor’s office — evidently wanted to send a message. Unfortunately, he succeeded. He should not be helped along in his endeavor in pursuit of cheap clicks and more eyeballs. The unfortunate souls who were caught unawares could not help but watch two people die; the rest of us can.
While we’re at it, we might consider declining to make ridiculous claims about Virginia’s gun laws. Obviously, this could not have been stopped by a law “banning guns”; there are more than 300 million of them in circulation. Equally, there is no chance whatsoever that if the victims “had been armed” they would have survived. By all accounts, they were ambushed — explicitly targeted and killed in cold blood. A Navy SEAL couldn’t have stopped this.