ROANOKE: Staff at a television station in Virginia on Thursday observed a moment of silence for two co-workers shot dead the day before during a live broadcast by a disgruntled ex-colleague.

The killings of reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, as they conducted an on-air interview — and the footage posted online by the gunman — prompted renewed calls for tougher US gun control measures.

The shooter — Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Williams — fatally shot himself after fleeing the scene. He sent a rambling manifesto to ABC News, saying he was a “human powder keg... just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”.

“We will, over time, heal from this,” said a grief-stricken morning anchor, Kimberly McBroom, holding hands with two colleagues on the set.

The moment of silence at WDBJ, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, about 385 kilometres southwest of Washington, came at 6:45am — the exact time that Parker and Ward were shot and killed at close range.

Photos of the slain journalists were displayed on-air during the tribute to them.

Ward captured a chilling image of the gunman as he fell to the ground — all of it watched live by a stunned newsroom and viewers at home.

“It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents,” President Barack Obama told an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia.

Outside the studio gates, bouquets of flowers and shiny remembrance balloons were placed under a tree wrapped with two black mourning ribbons.

Viewers and local residents came by to pay their respects.

“She was looking forward to life. I was looking forward to a life with her,” WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst, Parker’s boyfriend, told NBC News.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play