Washington: A woman TV reporter and a cameraman were today killed on live television when a "disgruntled" ex-employee of the TV station opened fire in the US state of Virginia before succumbing to his injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Alison Parker, 24, a reporter for WDBJ television news channel, and Adam Ward, 27, a cameraman, were interviewing a woman about a shopping plaza in Moneta, a small community near Roanoke city ¿- some 400 kilometres south west of Washington DC -- when they were shot by the gunman identified as Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, of Roanoke.