A reporter and cameraman have been shot dead during a live TV interview in the US state of Virginia.
Horrific footage of the incident was broadcast, and is now frantically being removed from Facebook and Twitter.
The incident occurred during a live cross to 24-year-old reporter, Alison Parker, who worked for a local TV station in Virginia called WDBJ.
It was 6:45am in the morning. She was interviewing a local Chamber of Commerce representative, Vicki Gardner; the cameraman was a fellow WDBJ employee, Adam Ward, 27.
The gunman, a former employee of the station who goes by the names Bryce Williams and Vester Flanagan II, had apparently been waiting, and filmed the carnage himself.
He shot Adam first, and Adam’s camera caught Alison’s screams as it fell to the ground.
Flanagan then shot Alison dead, before turning to her interview subject, Vicki, who survived the attack and is being treated in hospital for a gunshot wound to the back.
Moments before the attack.
The producer back at the station urgently cut to the on-set anchor, Kimberly McBroom, who appeared stunned as she says: “OK, I’m not sure what happened there.”
The gunman fled the scene, but apparently paused in his car to load video footage of the horror to his Facebook and Twitter pages. His film showed himself waiting for the crew to turn up, before firing. The videos have since been taken down.
Reports suggest that the gunman was once employed as a reporter at the station but was fired after fellow employees made complaints about his manner and demeanour.
In recent weeks, he has Tweeted that he had been subject to racism.
Alison was engaged to another of the station’s anchors, Chris Hurst, who posted to Twitter: “We didn’t share this publicly, but (Alison) and I were very much in love. I am numb.”
“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.’
WATCH: A tribute to Alison and Adam.
Police in Virginia say the gunman later shot himself in the head and died in hospital.
Watch the latest press conference here:
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