Bryce Williams Got More Than 10 Million Google Searches
It’s not often that Google’s Trends list reflects more than 10 million searches. But that’s exactly what the Google Trends list reports Bryce Williams received on Wednesday, August 26 — more than 10 million searches for Bryce’s name and related search terms.
Initially, the day began with reports of a Virginia shooting involving Alison Parker and Adam Ward, plus their interview subject, Vicki Gardner. The Virginia shooting video that first emerged — the one not taken by Vester Flanagan — shocked WDBJ viewers who watched a reporter shot on live TV, along with the news reporter’s cameraman and interviewee being shot. What truly shocked viewers next was the fact that Williams recorded his own video of the shooting in Virginia, from his perspective.
A former WDBJ7 employee, Flanagan uploaded the WDBJ shooting of the reporter and cameraman to Facebook in a POV shot.
Not only did the video of the shooting in Virginia shock viewers, but later a YouTube video of Bryce’s road rage incident emerged. Meanwhile, the fact that reporters were shot on live TV, along with Williams’ Twitter rants being posted even while he was on the run, made social media a huge part of the shooting’s horrific factor.
Bryce’s Facebook was shut down, and ABC News printed excerpts from a 23-page document from Williams. But it was the video of Virginia shooting, wherein the reporters were killed from the shooter’s perspective that made the searchers turn to Google in horror.
Although some news outlets like CNN spoke of trying to not mention Bryce’s name nor give Williams more of the attention that he obviously sought from the video of the reporters being shot, it was Bryce’s shooting video that caused the flurry of searches. Many news outlets wouldn’t show the video of the reporters and their interview subject being shot on air, however, most showed a still photo from the video — or video snippets from the shooting on live TV.
The Smith Mountain Lake shooting took the lives of two promising journalists and the gunman himself. Tragically, Ward’s fiancee Melissa Ott saw the shooting in the WDBJ control room, reports the Daily Mail?. The station had just celebrated Ott’s last day at WDBJ, since she was moving on to a new job and Adam was set to follow.
The 10 million or more searches coming into Google represent folks who want to know why Bryce Williams/Vester Flanagan would commit such a heinous act, reports CNN.
[Image via Twitter]
