Spartan Echo

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — The latest on the on-air killing of two TV station employees in Virginia (all times local):

8:20 a.m.

The shopping center where two journalists were killed during an on-air broadcast has opened again, with just a few people arriving Friday morning.

Real estate agent Kay DeGiorgi stopped in front of a memorial to victims Alison Parker and Adam Ward. DeGiorgi put down her purse and stood there for several minutes, silently crying and dabbing her eyes.

DeGiorgi’s office is right next to the site of the shooting. She says she’s been in the area for 10 years and calls it “the safest place I’ve ever lived.”

She called the third victim, local Chamber of Commerce official Vicki Gardner, the face of Smith Mountain Lake. The shopping center is right on the lake, and DiGiorgi noted that Gardner, who was shot in the back and is in good condition at a hospital, works right nearby.

DiGiorgi says: “Keeping Vicki in our thoughts and prayers is going to help heal the community.”

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7:55 a.m.

The Virginia shopping center where two journalists were slain during a live interview is set to open for the first time since the attack.

On Friday morning, coffee shop owner Chris Genna walked past a memorial to the victims, with flowers and large portraits. He carried several brown bags of supplies as he unlocked the door to his shop, CJ’s Coffee and Sandwich Shop, at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta.

His business was scheduled to open at 8 a.m. That was expected to be the first to opening at the shopping center Friday morning.

On Thursday, the owner of the plaza said the shopping center would be open overall, but it would be up to each individual business owner whether to open shop doors.

Genna called it an emotional day, his voice faltering.

He said: “My thoughts go out to the families.”

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7:30 a.m.

The husband of the surviving victim in the on-air attack of two journalists in Virginia says his wife was shot in the back as she dove away from the gunman.

Vicki Gardner’s husband, Tim Gardner, spoke to ABC News on Friday morning, two days after the shooting in Moneta, Virginia. Tim Gardner says the gunman fired at his wife after shooting WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. Tim Gardner says the gunman missed his wife twice, and she then dove to the ground, curled up in a ball, and was shot in the back.

He says that after the attack, Vicki Gardner got up and walked to the ambulance after being shot, and she didn’t know the extent of her injuries at that point.

He adds: “But the surgeon told me that a couple of centimeters and she wouldn’t be walking, and a couple of centimeters more and she wouldn’t be alive.”

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6:50 a.m.

Journalists across the country have joined in tributes on social media websites to WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

Broadcasters from Boston to San Diego are posting photos of themselves or their staffs with the hashtag #WeStandWithWDBJ on Facebook and Twitter.

Some are wearing ribbons in the selfies. Others offer condolences and indicate their solidarity with the Roanoke, Virginia, TV station.

Parker and Ward were shot and killed on live television during an interview Wednesday morning. The gunman, 41-year-old Vester Flanagan, died hours later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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5:20 a.m.

Hearts remain heavy for the morning news team at WDBJ-TV two days after two station employees were shot to death on the air.

Morning anchor Kim McBroom started Friday’s broadcast by telling viewers, “another tough morning for us, but we’re soldiering on.”

Tributes to reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward continued to dominate the 5 a.m. newscast. This time, news unrelated to the tragedy dotted the program.

Parker and Ward were fatally shot by a former co-worker while conducting a live interview at Smith Mountain Lake.

McBroom says Ward was a contributor to the station’s Friday night high school football coverage. The high school season starts Friday night.

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4:45 a.m.

Businesses are reopening in Virginia at the scene of this week’s on-air shooting as more details surface of the gunman’s long history of confronting and bullying co-workers at a succession of television and customer-service jobs.

Friday’s reopening of Bridgewater Plaza comes two days after 41-year-old Vester Flanagan killed two journalists from a Roanoke TV station where he once worked, and wounded the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce official they were interviewing.

Flanagan’s hair-trigger temper became evident at least 15 years ago at WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Florida, said Don Shafer, who hired him there in 1999. Shafer recalled Flanagan as a good reporter and a “clever, funny guy” — but said he also had conflicts with co-workers “to the point where he was threatening people.”