Thursday, October 02, 2008

Happy .40 Cal Birthday To Me


I hit the big one today. 40. Yes, I've turned the corner into middle age. I expect my AARP application in the mail any day now.

Anyways, this morning at work, I was sent to do a live shot at the house where a fire took place three and a half years ago. The fire killed nine people, eight children and one adult. The fire was ruled arson and the killer had not been caught until yesterday.

Well, the house is not in a particularly safe area of Cleveland so, the producers asked me if I felt comfortable going there for the shot. I explained that I'd been there by myself before and felt okay with it. I wasn't really alone, as I had my reporter Bill with me.

Boy, was I wrong this time though.

We arrived at the house and I went about setting up the shot. I established the signal, ran the cables, set the lights and then got my camera. As I was plugging my camera up to the cables, I hear Bill calling my name fairly urgently.

I walk back to the truck, where Bill is on the phone. I see a figure on a bike turn the corner and ride away. Bill looks at me and says, "He had a gun."

"What?"

"He had a gun. He rode up about twenty feet away and was shaking his hand. I looked down and he had a gun in his hand. He was waving it around at me," Bill told me.

I barely saw the guy but yes he did have a gun and he definitely put an urgency to my movements. I called the desk while Bill was telling 911 what he saw.

We scrapped the live shot.

And all I got was an upset stomach for my birthday.

At least we weren't shot or robbed. I'm thankful for that.

2 comments:

Mom2Amara said...

Um honey, you knew that was a not nice neighborhood at night. Why didn't you just tell the desk up front?

I'm glad you're ok...

newshutr said...

I said I didn't have a problem going there. I'd been there before by myself.