The "disgruntled employee" believed to have shot and killed two media members and wounded a third person on live television Wednesday morning has reportedly shot himself after being confronted by police along a Virginia highway.

Virginia State Police said 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan, who also went by the name Bryce Williams, shot himself near mile marker 17 on I-66. He is in critical condition.

"Shortly before 11:30 a.m., Virginia State Police spotted the suspect vehicle headed eastbound on Interstate 66," a police statement said. "With emergency lights activated the Virginia State Police trooper initiated a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle. The suspect vehicle refused to stop and sped away from the trooper. Minutes later, the suspect vehicle ran off the road and crashed. The troopers approached the vehicle and found the male driver suffering from a gunshot wound. He is being transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries."

Flanagan had previously served as a reporter for TV station WDBJ7 using the name Bryce Williams. A Twitter account purported to belong to Williams tweeted out what appeared to be first-person video of the shooting along with statements pointing to a motive. A Facebook account under Williams' name posted a longer version of the video, and a statement was sent to ABC News by someone using Williams' name. The Twitter and Facebook accounts have since been suspended and ABC News has turned the faxed document over to authorities.

In the Twitter video, a cell phone camera angle shows the shooter walking up to a reporter, interviewee and camera man and pointing a gun at them. The trio, in the midst of the interview, does not see the shooter approach or the pistol pointing at them. The shooter initially stops near the group and points the gun away. After a few seconds, he aims again and begins firing, first at reporter Alison Parker, who screams and runs as the video ends.

In the longer video posted to Facebook the sound of at least 14 gunshots can be heard. Nine shots ring out before a pause and the final shots are fired.

Police found a vehicle believed to belong to Williams at the Roanoke Airport, but he was not with it, according to police scanner communications.

The two people killed were identified by WDBJ7 colleagues as Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27.

"Alison made racist comments," one tweet from Williams' now-suspended Twitter account read. "Adam went to hr on me after working with me one time!!!" said another. Both tweets were posted hours after the murders had occurred.

A third person, who was being interviewed at the time of the shooting, was shot in the back, had surgery and is recovering, according to WDBJ7. That person was identified as Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"She is currently recovering and is in stable condition," Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital CEO Steve Arner said in a statement.

The shooting occurred at 6:45 a.m. at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Va., according to Franklin County Sheriff Department spokesperson Phillip Young.

A federal law enforcement official told Fox News the FBI's Richmond field office had responded to the scene and was participating in the investigation. The ATF said on Twitter it was also assisting in the manhunt for the shooting suspect.

The shooting occurred live on television while Parker was conducting an interview outdoors about a planned anniversary celebration at Smith Mountain Lake, with Ward filming. When the camera panned to Parker and Gardner, multiple shots rang out and several screams could be heard. As the camera fell to the ground, a blurry figure, suspected to be the gunman, came into view on the screen momentarily. The live feed then cut off.

“We always say ‘senseless’ crime,” WDBJ7 President and General Manager Jeff Marks said on the station later. “How can this individual have robbed Alison and Adam’s families of their lives and loves?”

WDBJ7 tweeted about the incident Wednesday morning:

Ward graduated from Salem High School and Virginia Tech and Parker grew up in Martinsville and attended Patrick Henry Community College and James Madison University, according to WDBJ7.

Parker interned at the station while at James Madison, and said in a station news release when they announced her hiring: “It was that internship that took the skills I learned at JMU and allowed me to apply them. That internship made me fall in love with the business, and I knew broadcast journalism was exactly what I wanted to pursue.”

Colleagues revealed on air that Parker was dating a coworker at the station and Ward was engaged to a coworker. 

Chris Hurst, a WDBJ7 anchor, tweeted Wednesday morning that he was romantically involved with Parker: "We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married.We just celebrated her 24th birthday. She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a statement he was "heartbroken" by the news.

“There are no words to express how heartbroken I am by the senseless tragedy in Moneta this morning," the statement said. "My deepest sympathies go out to the loved ones of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, as well as the entire WDBJ family. I ask everyone to join me in praying for Vicki Gardner who was seriously injured in this attack and all of the local authorities and first responders who are working to find the perpetrator of this horrific crime.”

The NYPD said it stepped up its presence around TV stations on Wednesday in New York as a precaution.

"Out of an abundance of caution the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau, Critical Response Vehicles and Hercules Teams have been deployed to television news outlets in New York City," said Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John J. Miller. "This was ordered following the shooting this morning in Virginia. While there is no indication of any threat to media outlets beyond this incident, we have provided an additional layer of security until we have a fuller understanding of the motive behind the Virginia incident."

Moneta is about 25 miles east of Roanoke.