Two journalists shot dead during live broadcast in US

Two journalists for a local CBS affiliate in the United States were shot dead Wednesday during a live broadcast, according to television footage and their network.

Shots are heard in footage taken by the WDBJ cameraman Adam Ward before he dropped to the ground.

Ward was killed alongside his colleague, 24-year-old reporter Alison Parker, according to their station manager Jeffrey Marks.

"We do not know the motive. We do not know who the suspect or who the killer is," Marks said, adding the shooter was still at large.

The station, in Roanoke Virginia, says in tweets and in a story on its website that the incident happened at a shopping centre, just off Smith Mountain Lake, adding that law enforcement officials are on the scene.