Instead of disturbing video footage, here's how we should remember the two journalists shot on camera

A television news reporter and cameraman were shot dead in a live broadcast in the US on Wednesday morning.

Alison Parker and her colleague Adam Ward were filming a segment from Moneta, Virginia, for WDBJ7 when the shooter attacked and fled the scene.

Some news websites chose to show the harrowing footage of the moment the pair were killed - which many people criticised as an insensitive decision.

Footage of the incident was also uploaded to Twitter and Facebook by what appeared to be the shooter himself. Police named the suspect as Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled colleague at the station. He is reported to have later shot himself and was in a critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, according to reports.

Grieving friends, colleagues and fellow professionals expressed their shock at footage being shared and urged others to remember the pair for their life and work rather than the disturbing way they died.

The pair were described as "fine journalists and fine people" who would "brighten up a room every morning" and who "did great work every day" by their colleagues in moving tributes on air after the incident.

A profile of Alison Parker on the WBDJ7 website explains that she was the station's Mornin' reporter who had lived in the local area for most of her life. A keen kayaker and theater-goer, she had learned the ropes at James Madison University where she edited the student newspaper. She was 24.

It has also since emerged that she had just moved in with her colleague Chris Hurst who, writing on Twitter, revealed they were "very much in love".

Her colleague Adam Ward had graduated from Salem High School and Virginia Tech.

Melissa Ott, his fiancée, was in the control room, watching the horrific scene. Today was her last day at the station. He was 27.

Follow the Independent's live coverage of the incident here