ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Days after a horrible and senseless tragedy took the lives of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, community members are paying their respects. Among family, friends and WDBJ staff, Virginia's Governor Terry McAuliffe spoke to those grieving and touched on gun control.
Gov. McAuliffe began the press conference by extending his condolences and conveying his sorrows to all in pain over Alison and Adam's death. He gave recognition to the WDBJ staff for their bravery in this dark time.
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"Word just can't describe it," said Gov. McAuliffe. "I just want everybody here to understand that we are there for them today, tomorrow, and anytime in the future. We we'll be there for them."
"This is the surreal part being outside of the station and talking to national media," added Alison Parker's former boyfriend and WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst. "I'm doing it again to just share Alison and Adam's story so, that everyone around the county can know how wonderful they were."
During his visit to WDBJ, Gov. McAuliffe also questioned if the community is doing everything possible to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.
The governor said on a national scale an average of 89 people die every day due to gun violence. He hopes to tighten gun control regulations saying the commonwealth needs more common sense restrictions before a person is eligible to buy a gun; such as extensive background checks.
"If something came out of this horrible tragedy...hopefully some good will come out of it," said Gov. Mcauliffe. "If we can work together, do the best we can to keep our community safer, if we can save one life then, we need to do that.
The governor further told us he's been in contact with Andy Parker to share views and a course of action on the subject.
We've also seen community members all day at WDBJ contributing to the memorials, brining staff food and just an overflow of support.
ORIGINAL -Â Gov. Terry McAuliffe visited WDBJ7 Friday afternoon to lend his support and give condolences to the employees there.
McAuliffe spoke to the media outside of the station. He talked about his support for universal background checks for gun purchases and said "there are too many guns in America."
But McAuliffe, himself a gun owner, also says the gunman who killed reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward had passed a background check.
McAuliffe said he had spoken to the father of Alison Parker and he also wants to help advocate for better background checks.
The governor arrived at the station earlier on Friday to talk to the staff in private after their coworkers were killed on air by former co-worker Vester Lee Flanagan II.
The Friday visit comes two days after the attack during a live broadcast.
WDBJ7Â has been airing news and reaction about the attack since it occurred two days ago. Several hours after the attack, Flanagan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.