RTX1PVGS
Photos of slain journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward are seen next to candles at a makeshift memorial outside the offices of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, on Aug. 27, 2015. Reuters/Chris Keane

The TV journalists killed on live TV last week were memorialized Sunday at an interfaith service in Virginia. The service was open to the public and was organized by WDBJ-TV, the local CBS affiliate where reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward worked, NBC News reported.

Jeff Marks, station general manager at WDBJ, said he struggled to find the right words to make the loss mean something. “I've given many talks over the years, never with so heavy a heart," Marks said during a service held at Jefferson Center, a concert hall in Roanoke, Virginia, where the station is based.

Parker and Ward were filming a live interview segment on local tourism Wednesday when they were fatally shot by a disgruntled former WDBJ employee, Vester Lee Flanagan, who was reportedly fired over performance and conduct issues. Flanagan fled the scene and later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after leaving a suicide note detailing his grievances with his former station.

At Sunday’s service, Marks said American society needs to deal better and more directly with anger, and angry people. Without mental health services, untreated anger can have "catastrophic" consequences, Marks told memorial attendees.

"Services exist and we must use them for ourselves and for those we know who have uncontrolled anger," he said. "We must learn to speak directly to anger: 'You are angry and that must make you feel awful.'"

Marks also shared his fondest memories of Parker and Ward, saying the two were almost never angry and that they endeavored to highlight “what is good and fun in life.” He lamented: “I want to play softball with Adam again, and I want to see Alison dance. And I will, in the wonderful memories they gave me … [that] they gave us."

At Jefferson Center, mourners could write prayers on a poster board for WDBJ and the families of the slain journalists, who attended the service. The on-air shooting captured the nation's attention and renewed calls for stricter state and federal gun control laws. In the recent past, nationally publicized incidents of gun violence have not prompted Congress to enact expanded background checks for gun sales or bans on certain weapons.

The shooting also prompted the families of other victims of gun violence to speak out and offer condolences. Nicole Hockley, whose son was killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, wrote a letter to Parker’s family, CNN reported. “This [gun control debate] is not about the views of extremes on either side,” Hockley said in an interview Sunday. “This is about having the everyday, sensible center of America stand up and say that we are going to do whatever it takes to get [gun control] done. This is about protecting our own communities, our own children.”

RELATED STORIES