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Published January 24, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," August 26, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: We talked about Chris Hurst, his girlfriend was one of the people who was murdered. Chris Hurst, his co-anchor is Jean Jadhon, and she joins us tonight.
Jean, thank you for joining us.
JEAN JADHON, WDBJ ANCHOR: You are welcome, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Jean, you know, I just can't -- I don't even know what to say to you, what to ask you. I mean, it must be -- I mean, so very difficult for you in so many ways. First, it's someone you knew. Then it's someone you work with, fianc,, and you've got to do your job.
What do you say tonight to the viewers who are watching?
JADHON: Well, first of all, it's been a very, very surreal day from the phone call I got this morning at 10 after 7:00 saying we need you to come in, Alison and Adam have been involved in a shooting. I had no idea at that point that they had been fatally shot, gunned down at point blank range by a former co-worker of ours, no less.
So, coming in to work, of course, when we found out the news, when I found out the news, we were all crying and hugging one another. My co- anchor Chris Hurst was there. He lives with Alison Parker. The two had been in a serious relationship since January. So, hugging him and consoling one another and then in the next breath my boss is saying we need to get out on the air and do a special report.
How do you do it? You know how it is, Greta. You just do. You go on the air with maybe your makeup not looking so great and your voice a little shaky. But you also have a job to do, to report what is going on and what's happening. And we knew at this point that this gunman was on the loose. And we wanted to get that information out there. Here's what happened. And let's find this guy.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did you know the killer? Did your work time at the station overlap with his?
JADHON: It did. He was at the station for a little under a year, I believe. And he was let go in 2013. So just two years ago. So I you knew him. Did I know him well? No.
I do know he had a lot of problems and complaints against people at the station. He always seemed -- he always felt, in his words, that people were out to get him, that they were somehow against him, which really wasn't the case.
We work with a diverse group of people in our newsroom. And, in my opinion, people were not out to get him. But from the words that he wrote in that manifesto you talked about, it seems that he was troubled and that's what he thought.
It's interesting, too. Vester Flanagan, we knew him as Bryce Williams. And I wondered, did he hide his legal name and identity when he applied for the job to hide the troubles he had had in the past with anger lawsuits and volatility. We were all afraid when he left. He had to be escorted out of the station by police. And we were told to, if we see him, to call police because it was clear he was angry at the station and the people who worked here and was volatile. So in a scary way, when I heard it was him, I wasn't surprised.
VAN SUSTEREN: I can't even imagine what it's like for Chris Hurst tonight. I obviously read his Twitter account. Many of us did and saw his tweets as he wrote about -- so lovingly about his fianc,e. You know, even -- I mean, I can't even -- I imagine the newsroom is just grief-stricken tonight. Two members of your team.
JADHON: I know, two members of our team gone and then two additional members deeply affected. Our morning producer has flowers sitting on her desk from Adam because today is her last day at the station.
She just accepted a job in Charlotte. Today her last day. And Adam had sent her flowers. She has a bouquet of flowers sitting on her desk right now with a card from Adam.
He was excited. I just talked to him last week. Planning on leaving TV news and had two other job interviews set up in Charlotte to start a new life with, Melissa Ott, our morning producer.
In Charlotte, they had just found a new apartment. They were planning to move in. He said, I'm going to stick around and go to the Virginia Tech game a week from Sunday because he is a huge Hokies fan. But then even if I have a new job, I'm going to get up the next morning and get down to Charlotte and started.
And then you talk about Alison Parker and Chris. Those two started dating shortly after Christmas. The two of them were like peas in the pod in a sense that two very motivated 20-somethings who just wanted to do everything they can to get the story and be the best they can on the air and learn and come to any hour of the day or night to cover a story and just that motivation and determination to do a great job.
And they always had fun together. Chris said something to me today in the newsroom. He said Alison brought out this side of me I normally don't show. Like she dragged him along to a paint night, for example. You know, those nights where people go to a restaurant and they do a painting, something he ordinarily wouldn't do. She got him into hiking and kayaking and just kind of a silly, fun side of him.
And he -- I think we're all in shock. He is certainly in shock. He was in the newsroom for several hours this morning waiting to get the clearance to leave because in the morning hours, we were all told not to leave the television station because there was a threat that a gunman was out there, potentially targeting others of us that work at WDBJ7. So a huge loss. Huge loss.
VAN SUSTEREN: And, you know, we all -- and of course, if this could get any more wicked, I don't know if it can. I mean, bringing a camera and then posting the video on Facebook, which he did. But you've also got Adam's fiance in the control room watching her fiance, get murdered. I can't think of a more vicious thing to do to anybody.
JADHON: I can't either, Greta. It just goes to show all of us how troubled this guy was. Who does something like that? I mean, this was clearly planned and from everything I'm hearing, this was planned out. He thought this out.
He rented a car, according to state police earlier this month, and then left his car at the airport which, by the way, is a stone's throw from here at the TV station. And, apparently, he took the rental car today to make his escape. So this was something -- it wasn't something, at least it doesn't sound like it was something that was spur of the moment as he described, as you said in that document, a powder keg, I believe, waiting to explode.
This had been escalating. He had a lot of anger. He had a lot of mental issues. And, yes, who does that? Who posts that? It has to be someone -- I can't even imagine. I have not looked at his Twitter account. I have not watched that video. I don't think I will. I don't think I want to see that.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, the whole nation is mourning tonight, as you might imagine. Thank you very much for joining us. I know that this is a difficult night in particular for you to get up in front of a camera.
Thank you very much.
JADHON: Thanks, Greta.
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/a-boyfriend-and-a-newsroom-grieve-and-try-to-carry-on