WDBJ camerman Adam Ward was filming reporter Alison Parker interviewing Smith Mountain Lake Chamber Director Vicki Gardner for a segment at 6:45am when about eight shots rang out.
Screams are then heard as the women duck and the camera falls to the floor. A person dressed in all black is then seen standing nearby with what appears to be a gun raised in one hand pointed at Ward.
The general manager at the CBS station later came on the air to confirm Parker and Smith's deaths.
'It's my very very sad duty to report... that Alison and Adam died this morning,' WDBJ's general manager came on the air to say after the incident.
Police previously reported that there were three injured, so there may be one survivor.
About 30 to 40 police officers are in the area, trying to track down the shooter. No description of the suspect has been released yet.
According to her bio at WDBJ7.com, Alison Parker was the station's morning reporter. A local girl, Parker had spent much of her life outside Martinsville, about an hour from where she was tragically gunned down Wednesday.
Prior to her time at WDBJ, Parker worked near the Marine base Camp Lejeune for the Jacksonville, North Carolina bureau of WCTI.
She graduated from James Madison University just three years ago. While there, she interned at the local ABC/Fox affiliate and was news editor for her university's nationally recognized newspaper, The Breeze.