In the middle of shooting a segment, a TV news crew was robbed in broad daylight in Oakland, Calif. last Friday (August 2) . The robbery was the latest in a string of recent thefts involving the media in the Bay Area city.
ABC affiliate KGO-TV crew members were filming in the city’s west section when the robbery took place around 2:30 p.m., reported the San Francisco Chronicle. The crew was approached by at least three men, one of whom was said to be carrying a weapon. The crime took place at the 2700 block of Chestnut Street, a neighborhood of modest homes alongside a narrow two-lane road.
Although the news crew were familiar with the thefts and had a security guard with them, the thieves still made off with the TV equipment. None of the victims were harmed.
KGO-TV crews suffered a similar setback last May when personal items were stolen from a crew van and from the car belonging to the security guard that traveled with the staff. In a related incident, a cameraman for CBS affiliate KPIX was punched and robbed last November during a live broadcast outside a high school in Oakland.
KPIX, like KGO-TV, requires that its crew members travel with a security guard, many of whom are former police officers.
Officials from KGO-TV, which is based in San Francisco, have not offered an statement regarding last week’s robbery.
Watch a Newsy video report of the robberies in Oakland by following this link.
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Photo: San Francisco Chronicle