This undated photo provided by WDBJ-TV, shows Vester Lee Flanagan II, who killed WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward in Moneta, Va., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Flanagan was a former employee at WDBJ who appeared on air as Bryce Williams.(Photo: AP)

A former coworkers and former manager at WDBJ-TV said Vester Flanagan, the man who shot and killed two journalists on live television here, was an angry man and less-than-stellar reporter who misconstrued innocent happenstances as racist slights.

Flanagan’s tenure at the station lasted less than a year, from March 2012 to February 2013.

He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while being pursued by police after the shooting at Smith Mountain Lake Wednesday. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed. Vicki Gardner, a chamber of commerce official at Smith Mountain Lake, was shot in the chest and was in good condition at the hospital Thursday, her husband Tim Gardner said.

WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks described two of the instances listed in a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Flanagan, who was known at the station by the air name Bryce Williams. One was that on assignment he was intentionally told to pass by Cottonseed Road in an attempt at racial harrasment. Flanagan also complained about a lone watermelon at a summer picnic at the station, Marks said. (NOTE: I can’t find Cottonseed Road on a Virginia map, and I can’t find a copy of the EEOC complaint.)

“He accused us of placing it there to send him a message,” Marks said. “We have no tolerance for racial discrimination or harassment. We don’t do it.”

The EEOC dismissed the complaint and a lawsuit that Flanagan filed was also dismissed, Marks said.

Flanagan’s grievances were imaginary and fit a pattern of poor performance and behavior problems that eventually resulted in his dismissal and call for him to be removed from the station by four police officers.

Flanagan did not exhibit violent tendencies, but he was argumentative and made people uncomfortable, Marks said.

Reporter Justin Ward, who is no relation to Adam Ward, said he never encountered a difficult situation with Flanagan, though he was struck once with something he said.

“He said ‘You’re really picky, you’re really into this job,’” Ward said. “It wasn’t a compliment, it was like he was jealous.”

Ward said Flanagan’s on-camera segments sometimes were unusual. For Halloween he once did an entire segment in full costume in an apparent attempt at humor. It came across as odd, Ward said.

Ward said he heard about Flanagan’s last day at the station over the phone from Adam Ward. “He said there’s a situation here, and if you call the newsroom nobody’s going to answer because they were all told to leave.”

Marks on Thursday said Adam Ward was asked to film Flanagan’s departure, to document the incident for the company.

Flanagan was fired for a combination of reasons, Marks said.

“He had a short fuse,” Marks said. “People didn’t enjoy working with him.”

He showed poor news judgment, failed to check his facts and once got into a confrontation with a coworker who objected to trespassing on private property for a story. And he was generally a poor reporter, Marks said.

“He didn’t investigate, he wrote down people said and repeated it back. He wasn’t thorough,” Marks told USA TODAY.

Managers tried to coach and help Flanagan, but he would blame others for his shortcomings and his work did not improve.

“We made it mandatory that he seek help from our company employee assistance program,” Marks said. “He complied with what we asked him to do.”

But whatever the program recommended didn’t stick, Marks said.

After Flanagan was fired, Marks heard from time to time that Flanagan had been seen in the neighborhood. He lived near the station. He had a discrimination lawsuit pending against the company, which was dismissed a few months ago.  According to a 22-page manifesto Flanagan sent to ABC News, the shooting in Charleston, S.C., of 12 black churchgoers by a White Supremacist sent him over the edge.

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