2 Arrested After Former KCAL Reporter Gets Shot By BB Gun On Live TV
GLENDALE (CBS) — Two teens have been arrested after one of them allegedly fired a BB gun at a TV crew doing a live weather report, according to authorities.
Channel 7 reporter Leanne Suter was reportedly shot in the hand but not seriously injured.
The incident occurred in Fontana.
KABC officials were rather mum about the incident (first word on their website more than three hours after the shooting and initially not even wanting to name the reporter involved) but KABC president and general manager Arnold Kleiner issued a statement. "While covering a weather story in the area our crew was fired upon as they were doing a live report. We are grateful no one was seriously hurt and we are fully cooperating with police in their investigation."
Kleiner said the Glendale station crews and reporters were conscious of good safety practices and they "could not have anticipated that someone would decide to target them in this way."
The teens arrested are 16 and 17, according to the LA Times.
Suter, a former KCAL9 reporter, has worked at KABC since 2003.
The station's first tweet about the incident came at 10:18 p.m. Saturday. "ABC7 reporter Leanne Suter was hit by a pellet fired from a BB gun while covering a story in Fontana. She is OK"
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)