There are no guarantees in life. A television reporter and camera operator in Virginia just doing a normal live video segment never dreamed their life would end while performing their job.

It was a tragic day in the news industry as two people were gunned down during an interview. The moment was captured live as the interview was taking place on location.

KDLT News Reporter Rachel Skytta has been out doing live events during her journalistic career and knows what goes into staging a broadcast.

“It’s probably not as elaborate as most people would assume. We have a backpack that gives us live capability anywhere very easily. We can just plug into our camera and be live in a matter of minutes.”

When the red light goes on, Skytta says the task at hand is the main concern regardless if there are people around.

“It’s difficult to be conscious of those people. You never know what the person behind is going to do. (They could) gesture or yell something out. You have to focus on what you’re doing. You get used to tuning out your surroundings and focus on the job you have to do.”

Skytta says she was very keen to the outpouring of sympathy from those within the profession.

“Immediately after things started unfolding I noticed the amount of people on social media (reacting) because it affected so many people in the news industry.”

As far as a connection with the people involved, Skytta says she did not know Alison Parker or Adam Ward, but admits the professional circle is pretty tight.

“It is a very small community. You may have crossed paths with somebody in college or at a station you did an internship where a connection was made.”

People began a memorial consisting of flower bouquets and balloons outside of WDBJ Television. Tributes and moments of silence were observed at the Washington Nationals baseball game Wednesday evening in the wake of the shooting. Thankfully the interview subject Vicki Gardner is expected to recover.

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