Cameraman shot while on assignment
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Cameraman shot while on assignment
- A television cameraman for station KTVI in St. Louis was shot in the shoulder after taping an investigative news segment.
May 21, 2004 — A FOX television cameraman was shot in the shoulder yesterday afternoon while on assignment near St. Louis, Mo.
A single bullet pierced the left shoulder of cameraman Larry Washington, of station KTVI, FOX 2 News. Washington is reportedly in stable condition. The Wellston Police Department is investigating the shooting; no arrests have been made.
Washington and investigative reporter Elliott Davis had just finished taping a “narration” outside the offices of a towing company in Wellston when shots rang out in the street. KTVI said the piece was for a follow-up story on Galez Towing. KTVI recently reported on allegations of overcharging by Galez, as well as questionable business practices by the company.
Davis and Washington primarily report for the station’s “You Paid For It” investigative news series.
Police said they do not yet know if the shooting, which took place at approximately 3 p.m., was a random act of violence or in retaliation for a news report, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Two shell casings were found 150 feet from the incident.
The Wellston Police Department, which did not return multiple phone calls for comment, contracts out to Galez for towing services.
“I know we’ve done some dangerous assignments, but I never thought that anything like this would happen,” said Washington, in a story on KTVI’s Web site.
Elliot’s biography, published on the station’s Web site, says his “hard-hitting investigations have made him a lightning rod of controversy in the St. Louis area’s political and bureaucratic arena.”
Elliot was sitting in the news station’s unmarked Ford Explorer at the time of the shooting. Washington was standing nearby talking to a friend, according to the station. Neither Elliot nor the friend were injured.
— JL
© 2004 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
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