The couple also provide support to other families affected by gun violence and participate in events held by activist groups, including Everytown for Gun Safety and Americans for Responsible Solutions. In the nine months since the deadly attack, they have started a foundation in her memory- For Alison-that supports the visual and performing arts in southern Virginia communities. The Parkers now remain adamant about not defining Alison by her death. "I want to remember my daughter exactly as she was." "We made that decision early on that we would not watch it," Barbara says. Thousands had watched the young woman die that morning, and even more around the world viewed the shocking attack on social media. Later in the morning, her longtime boyfriend, Chris Hurst, called the Parkers with the news that Alison had been shot. But only one video had been posted, which wasn't typical of Alison's work. On the morning of the shooting, Barbara watched her daughter's first report online. Instead, she watched online videos of her daughter's stories later in the morning. Barbara remembers joking with Alison about not wanting to wake up as early as 5:50 a.m. "Every day, people are added to what we call this club no one wants to join."īefore Alison's death, the couple woke each day to watch their cheerful and perky daughter's on-air morning interviews with members of the community. But our daughter, who we adored, was taken from us, and she was only doing her job," Barbara says, speaking of herself and her husband, Andy. "For lack of better words, we call ourselves pissed-off parents because we weren't victims and we weren't shot and survived. Much of the aftermath of the shooting played out on social media, as the suspect posted video footage and updates to Twitter as he fled. The suspect, later identified as a former employee at their Roanoke news station, fatally shot himself before police could apprehend him. The two were conducting a live interview at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia, when a gunman approached and killed them. The world watched in horror when Alison, a 24-year-old reporter, was fatally shot on live TV on August 26, 2015, along with her colleague Adam Ward, a 27-year-old photojournalist, both with WDBJ7. "Those are the things I miss," Barbara Parker tells Newsweek. And every Monday, she met her mom after her morning shift ended at the local news station to share lunch and do some shopping. On Mother's Day in 2015, she took both of her parents wine-tasting and hiking around the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Alison Parker had a close relationship with her mom.
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