WDIV Detroit Former-Editor Shot in building
 

Stupid crazy people. This story is unbelievably sad and a prime example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I feel so bad for this guy. He was one of my chapter lil sis's internship mentors at Mort Crim Communications. We're still waiting to hear if the person of interest is the shooter.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4385380/detail.html

'Person Of Interest' Found In WDIV Shooting
Shooting Victim Remains In Surgery

POSTED: 7:28 pm EDT April 15, 2005
UPDATED: 8:16 pm EDT April 15, 2005

Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings announced Friday at about 7:30 p.m. that a person of interest has been taken into custody in connection with a shooting at WDIV-TV studios in downtown Detroit.

Police found the man in the area of southwest Detroit and he was taken to the Detroit police 3rd Precinct for questioning, Local 4 reported.


A man who allegedly shot a former employee at WDIV TV studios in Detroit is shown on a security camera at the station before the shooting Friday.



"We have a person of interest in custody and we're continuing to do some investigative leads to either make sure we have the right person in custody or the wrong one," Bully-Cummings said.


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Slideshow: Man Shot At Detroit TV Station
Video: Local 4's Andrew Humphrey Describes Previous Encounter
Video: Police Chief Discusses Local 4 Shooting
PDF: WDIV Warning Poster
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John Owens, a former employee of WDIV, entered the television station around 4:30 pm to pick up a videotape that had been left. Owens was picking up the tape for another company.

Just then, a man walked into the vestibule area. He had been causing a commotion, according to the station’s receptionist. The receptionist of the TV station said she had recognized the suspect as a man who had been harassing employees at WDIV for the past year. She would not let him into the building. The building has a security system where visitors need to be buzzed into the building.

The man then shot Owens as the two stood in the vestibule.

Witnesses said the man may have fled in a green Dodge pick up truck.

An ambulance arrived at the TV station and Owens was transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital.

The shooter was described as stocky, about 240 pounds and 6 feet tall. He was Hispanic or Middle Eastern and had on sunglasses. He may be the same person who has been harassing employees at the station, but no one is sure of his motives.

More than a month ago, two employees at the station's loading docks were assaulted. Witnesses said this could be the same man.

Detroit police officers and ATF officers joined in the search for the suspected gunman. Police closed down a section of Lafayette during the investigation.

"We're attempting to get an identification on this individual. We are looking at the film that has been taken and are putting that out," said Bully-Cummings.

Owens is in critical and is undergoing surgery, but hospital officials said the bullet missed his heart.

Police are still urging people with information that may lead to an arrest to call Detroit Homicide (313) 596-2260 or Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) SPEAK-UP.

Stay tuned to Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.com for further updates.

Some people are nuts.

At my former station in Denver there is now an armed guard in the lobby and he escorts anchors to their cars in the evenings. One of the other stations in town often employs off duty Denver cops.

When I worked in Detroit, we had guards at the front gate to the property and at both main entrances to the building -- and that station was in the suburbs.

Some people get a grudge against the media as a whole and take it out on individuals.

Way back in the mid-70's we got bomb threats at our station in Columbus.

What a world.

I'm a little freaked that I was about 2 miles away from the station and driving along the same route that this guy would've driven to get home at the same time that he was going home.

What really surprised me was how Channel 7 did coverage of it during their whole newscast. I didn't think they'd give that much air time to their competitor, but I guess the TV world is small and the competitiveness goes out the window during a tragedy like this.

WXYZ (channel 7) has some good folks and are good journalists. You can't ignore something like this.

When one of our competitors here in Denver helicopter crashed killing their pilot and chief photographer, who was good friends with about everyone it seemed, the two other major stations shared all of their news tape with them that day so their people could go to the funeral and burial.

Even the most competitive stations respect each other.