Virginia TV Shooting: Reporter, Cameraman Shot in Head; Husband of Survivor Tells Her Story

Virginia medical officials say a TV news reporter and cameraman who were killed during a live broadcast both suffered gunshot wounds to the head.

The medical examiner’s office in Roanoke said Friday that WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker‘s official cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Cameraman Adam Ward‘s cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and torso.

Homicide is listed as the manner of death for both Parker and Ward.

The medical examiner’s office did not specify how many times Parker and Ward were shot during Wednesday’s attack.

The husband of the surviving victim in the on-air attack of two journalists in Virginia says his wife was shot in the back as she dove away from the gunman.

Vicki Gardner‘s husband, Tim Gardner, spoke to ABC News on Friday morning. Tim Gardner says the gunman fired at his wife after shooting Parker and Ward. Tim Gardner says the gunman missed his wife twice, and she then dove to the ground, curled up in a ball, and was shot in the back.

He says that after the attack, Vicki Gardner got up and walked to the ambulance after being shot, and she didn’t know the extent of her injuries at that point.

He adds: “But the surgeon told me that a couple of centimeters and she wouldn’t be walking, and a couple of centimeters more and she wouldn’t be alive.”

ABC Latest News | Latest News Videos

Meanwhile, the shopping plaza where Parker and Ward were killed and Gardner was shot is reopening.

On Friday morning at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia, Gifts Ahoy opened its doors. Manager Lesley Kocsis and another employee unloaded handbags and put merchandise on shelves.

Kocsis said: “It’s very bittersweet, but we are glad to be back.”

Kocsis said she saw the shooting on live TV Wednesday, about an hour before she normally comes in to work. She told employees to sit tight and not come in and then stayed home herself, close to the TV to follow the news.

She said: “It’s cliche, but things like that don’t happen here.”

She also said it would take time for the community to process what happened, but they will bolster one another.

Earlier, a coffee shop at the plaza became the shopping center’s first business to reopen its doors after the attack.

On Thursday, the owner of the plaza said the shopping center would be open overall, but it would be up to each individual business owner whether to open shop doors.

Mikey Monaghan and her husband, Patrick, said they had reservations about going to CJ’s Coffee and Sandwich Shop on Friday morning because they wanted to be respectful. But then they decided that the community and its businesses needed support.

Mikey Monaghan stopped and put her hand over her mouth when she saw a memorial of flowers to the two victims.

Mikey Monaghan said she and her husband arrived at their vacation home in nearby Huddleston on Thursday. She said the killings in the normally quiet area around the lake shocked them.

She said: “It’s hard to stomach what’s happening across the nation. People are using guns to take matters into their own hands.”

Real estate agent Kay DeGiorgi stopped in front of the memorial, put down her purse and stood there for several minutes, silently crying and dabbing her eyes.

DeGiorgi’s office is right next to the site of the shooting. She says she’s been in the area for 10 years and calls it “the safest place I’ve ever lived.”

She called Vicki Gardner, a local Chamber of Commerce official, the face of Smith Mountain Lake. The shopping center is right on the lake, and DiGiorgi noted that Gardner works right nearby.

DiGiorgi said: “Keeping Vicki in our thoughts and prayers is going to help heal the community.”

On Friday morning’s WDBJ-TV newscast, anchor Kim McBroom started by saying, “another tough morning for us, but we’re soldiering on.”

Tributes to Parker and Ward continued to dominate the 5 a.m. newscast. This time, news unrelated to the tragedy dotted the program.

McBroom said Ward was a contributor to the station’s Friday night high school football coverage. The high school season starts this Friday night.