XPost: alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead, alt.motorcycle.kawasaki.gpz, al 
 .culture.hawaii 
 XPost: sbay.news.config 
 From: lying-pricks@msnbc.com 
  
 (CNN)The job offer seemed a promising start for Vester Flanagan: 
 He would be a multimedia journalist using the name Bryce 
 Williams at WDBJ making $17.31 an hour, or $36,000 yearly, in 
 early 2012. 
  
 But it took only two months on the job for him to receive a 
 written note in his personnel file about how he made co-workers 
 feel "threatened and uncomfortable" with abusive verbal and body 
 language on three occasions, according to court documents. 
  
 Two more months later, Flanagan faced a written warning that he 
 would be fired unless he improved immediately. His harsh 
 language and aggressive gestures were causing "a great deal of 
 friction" with photographers and other co-workers at the TV 
 station in Roanoke, Virginia, documents say. 
  
 Supervisors ordered him to get help through an employee 
 assistance program because of his "anger and his inability to 
 work with colleagues from time to time," said Jeffrey Marks, 
 WDBJ's general manager. 
  
 Flanagan complied. But in the end, he was fired after 11 months 
 on the job. 
  
 On the day he was fired -- February 1, 2013 -- the station's 
 human resources representative called 911 because Flanagan 
 warned, "I'm not leaving, you're going to have to call the 
 f***ing police. ... I'm going to make a stink and it's going to 
 be in the headlines." 
  
 Flanagan tossed his news director a small wooden cross and 
 added, "You need this." 
  
 The director then cleared the newsroom, and police removed 
 Flanagan. 
  
 Flanagan's brief, troubled tenure at WDBJ was revealed in court 
 papers filed in his lawsuit claiming racial discrimination and 
 wrongful termination. A Roanoke city judge dismissed the lawsuit 
 on July 2, more than a month before Flanagan, 41, went on a 
 rampage and killed two station journalists and then himself. 
  
 Trying to understand why 
 A day after the shootings, WDBJ executives struggled to say what 
 they could have done differently with the troubled employee. 
  
 "There were probably things we can do," Marks said. "We can 
 probably screen more, but by and large we get great employees 
 here. One is going to slip through the cracks every now and 
 then. I'm very proud of our hiring record." 
  
 Station employees said they had interacted with Flanagan without 
 incident since he was fired, which makes his actions this week 
 all the more baffling to them, Marks said. Flanagan lost his 
 complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity 
 Commission, he said. 
  
 "We're still at a loss to figure out what happened to him in 
 those 2€ years," Marks said. 
  
 Before hiring him, the station called Flanagan's references, who 
 all gave positive reviews, he said. 
  
 But Marks noted: "It's very hard to get a negative reference 
 these days. Most companies have policies that forbid their 
 people from giving references. And so what you get a lot of is 
 name, rank and serial number. 
  
 "I think anybody can make positive references happen if they try 
 hard enough, so we exhausted what we could on that," he said. 
  
 As for Flanagan's on-air and writing ability, Marks said that "I 
 don't think he was the strongest quality applicant we've ever 
 had, but he passed muster of the news management team at that 
 time." 
  
 A dangerous 'injustice collector' 
 Flanagan displayed traits of what a former FBI profiler calls 
 "an injustice collector," someone who blames others for their 
 problems, asserts nothing is their fault and contends everyone 
 is insulting them even when it's not true. 
  
 But Flanagan seems to have been a dangerous kind of injustice 
 collector, because he showed aggression and made threats, said 
 Mary Ellen O'Toole, a psychologist and a former FBI agent for 28 
 years who worked in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. 
  
 More professionals are offering expertise and guidance to 
 corporations, businesses and universities on how to fire or 
 expel potentially violent people such as Flanagan, she said. 
  
 "We get calls all the time on how do you fire this person," 
 O'Toole said. 
  
 A psychologist, police officer, security expert, or mental 
 health professional is hired to keep in touch with the 
 individual even after he or she has been fired, she said. This 
 new field is advanced by the Association of Threat Assessment 
 Professionals, O'Toole said. 
  
 "Just cutting ties with him may feel good, but you have no idea 
 of what you unleash," she said. 
  
 The post-firing service is designed to defuse any potential 
 violence and help the individual get on with his life, O'Toole 
 said. 
  
 "It's a new normal," she said. "It allows you to sit down with 
 someone, and you do it in a very therapeutic and supportive way." 
  
 Monitoring includes whether any police reports have been filed 
 against the fired employee for violent behavior. 
  
 "I know people will say that will cost a lot of money. I'm 
 talking one person out of 100 or maybe 500 who gets fired" who 
 may be potentially dangerous and need the service, she added. 
  
 "It's not a perfect science, and it never will be, but we're 
 pretty good at it," O'Toole said. 
  
 Newsroom films Flanagan's outburst 
 Flanagan's dismissal and confrontation with police were so 
 dramatic that staff photographer Adam Ward picked up a camera 
 and recorded the moment in the newsroom. On the day police led 
 him out of the office, Flanagan snarled at Ward, saying "lose 
 your big gut." Flanagan then flipped off Ward's camera. 
  
 It was Ward, 27, along with WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, who 
 Flanagan killed Wednesday during a live remote broadcast. 
  
 Who were the victims? 
  
 They were interviewing Vicki Gardner, the executive director of 
 the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, near 
 Moneta, Virginia. Gardner, who was wounded, was in stable 
 condition after surgery. Her husband said a bullet grazed her 
 spine. 
  
 Authorities are still investigating the circumstances of the 
 shooting, but Flanagan left behind a 23-page note that lists his 
 grievances. 
  
 Trouble with performance, too 
 The station's internal records about Flanagan, filed in a 
 Roanoke court, also show that he was performing poorly on the 
 job in some areas. 
  
 His August 2012 performance review gave him an "unacceptable," 
 the lowest score on a scale of 1 to 5, on his ability to work 
 with photographers, producers and assignment editors. 
  
 "The area where Bryce must make immediate improvement is with 
 photographers," wrote his supervisor, David Seidel. 
  
 Shooter's 23-page rant is filled with rage and praise 
  
 Flanagan also wasn't contributing to the Web frequently enough, 
 receiving a scoring category that is listed as "has an 
 opportunity for improvement." That amounted to a score of 2 on 
 the 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being the highest score. 
  
 "Bryce needs to incorporate web posting into his daily 
 schedule," Seidel wrote. 
  
 Flanagan confronts anchor over his script 
 By December 24, 2012, station news director Dan Dennison told 
 Flanagan that despite a lot of coaching, "you seem to have 
 reached a plateau," according to an internal memo. 
  
  
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