Emerson Graduate Remembers Girlfriend Killed In Virginia Shooting
BOSTON (CBS) -- An Emerson College graduate is paying tribute to his girlfriend, fatally shot along with her cameraman during a live TV news broadcast Wednesday morning in Virginia.
Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and photographer Adam Ward, 27, of WDBJ7 in Roanoke, were shot dead, reportedly by a "disgruntled" former employee of the station.
Parker's boyfriend, WDBJ7 anchor Chris Hurst, is a 2009 graduate of Emerson, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Hurst said he and Parker "were very much in love."
We didn't share this publicly, but @AParkerWDBJ7 and I were very much in love. We just moved in together. I am numb. pic.twitter.com/tUrHVwAXcN
— Chris Hurst (@ChrisHurstVA) August 26, 2015
"We just moved in together," Hurst said. "I am numb."
Hurst said they had been together about nine months and planned to get married.
We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married.We just celebrated her 24th birthday
— Chris Hurst (@ChrisHurstVA) August 26, 2015
She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.
— Chris Hurst (@ChrisHurstVA) August 26, 2015
I am comforted by everyone at @WDBJ7. We are a family. She worked with Adam every day. They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee.
— Chris Hurst (@ChrisHurstVA) August 26, 2015
At Emerson, Hurst covered news and sports for the school's radio and television stations.
Before returning home to Roanoke, Alison worked in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Madeleine Wright, now a reporter in Providence, Rhode Island, was a competitor.
WBZ-TV's Katie Brace reports
"We were all reporters and we were just hanging out," Wright says. "She was very competitive and ambitious and she had a lot of dreams."
She like many is in shock.
"I feel really bad she won't be able to live the rest of her life she had a bright future and she had so much life ahead of her to live," Wright says.