Virginia Shooting Victim 'Curled Up In Ball'

The husband of a woman who survived the on-air attack on two journalists in Virginia has said his wife was shot in the back after curling up in a ball to avoid the gunman.

Tim Gardner said Vester Flanagan turned the gun on his wife Vicki after shooting WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

In an interview with ABC News, he described how his wife got up and walked to an ambulance after she had been shot unaware of the extent of her injuries.

He told the TV network: "But the surgeon told me that a couple of centimetres and she wouldn't be walking, and a couple of centimetres more and she wouldn't be alive."

He said Flanagan tried to shoot Ms Gardner more times, but was unable to do so because the weapon apparently jammed.

Mrs Gardner is in a good condition in hospital after the shooting.

On Friday, medical examiners revealed Ms Parker, 24, died from gunshot wounds to the head and chest . Mr Ward's cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and torso.

Flanagan, 41, opened fire as Ms Parker, 24, and Mr Ward, 27, carried out an interview for the station's Mornin' newscast. They both died at the scene.

Flanagan, who was a former WDBJ employee who used the screen name Bryce Williams, then killed himself after leading police on a high speed chase and crashing his rented Chevrolet Sonic.

He was dismissed by the station in February 2013 for poor performance and a series of arguments with colleagues, and later sued claiming he had been the victim of racial discrimination. That case was thrown out.

Dan Dennison, who was news director during Flanagan's employment at the Virginia station, described him as a "professional victim".

He said: "He was victimised by everything and everyone and could never quite grasp the fact that he was the common denominator in all of these really sometimes serious interpersonal conflicts that he had with people."

Mr Dennison said Flanagan treated efforts by the station to improve his performance and persuade him to work better with colleagues as discrimination.

And he revealed he handed him a wooden cross as he was lead out of the newsroom by police and told him: "You'll need this."

Don Shafer, who hired Flanagan at WTWC-TV in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1999, said he would have conflicts with co-workers and even threatened them.

He said: "[He] had some physical confrontations with a couple of people, and at one point became such a distraction that we finally had to terminate him."

Flanagan then had stints in newsrooms in California, Florida and North Carolina before his final TV job at WDBJ in Roanoke.

Investigators found a wig, shawl, sunglasses, hat and a "to do" list in his rented car.

After carrying out the shooting, Flanagan took to Twitter to make accusations against Ms Parker and Mr Ward.