Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- February 24, 2019
- Location
- Oakland, California
- Targets
- Joe Vazquez (KPIX-TV)
- Assailant
- Private individual
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
This screenshot from California-based KPIX 5 reporter, Joe Vazquez, shows the news team's security guard being transported after receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover.
Two convicted in attempted robbery of San Francisco news crew
Two people who attempted to rob San Francisco-based CBS KPIX 5 news crew at gunpoint in 2019 were convicted of second degree robbery in 2021, according to the Alameda District Attorney’s office.
Maurice Turner and Donald Jeter were arrested in the days following the armed robbery attempt, which left the news crew’s private security guard wounded in Oakland, California, on Feb. 24, 2019.
The security guard, Matt Meredith, was shot while accompanying KPIX 5 journalists Joe Vazquez and photojournalist John Anglin during their coverage of the Oakland teacher’s strike.
According to the District Attorney’s Public Information Officer Angela Ruggiero, Jeter, who fired the shot that wounded Meredith, pleaded no contest to second degree robbery in July 2021. In August he was sentenced to 20 years in state prison, minus time served, with his prior conviction a factor in his sentencing, Ruggiero said.
Turner also pleaded no contest to second degree robbery. He was sentenced in October 2021 to seven years in state prison, minus time served, and to pay restitution to Meredith.
A third person, Lolita Brinson, was also charged by the DA as an accessory after the fact. According to Ruggiero, all charges against Brinson were dismissed “in the interest of justice” in 2020.
Joe Vazquez, a reporter for San Francisco-based local CBS KPIX 5 News was robbed at gunpoint early in the evening on Feb. 24, 2019, while covering the Oakland teachers’ strike.
Having just finished gathering interviews around 5 p.m., Vazquez was standing outside his news van with photographer John Anglin when two men pulled up in a car, KPIX reported. The men got out and one held a gun to Anglin’s head, demanding their camera.
According to a tweet from Vazquez the men took cover in the news van with Vazquez, telling him to get down.
Thank you, friends, for your well wishes. Our guard was shot today in Oakland while we were on assignment covering the Oakland teachers strike. We believe his wounds are not life threatening, thank God. Photographer John Anglin was robbed at gunpoint. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/TP225CUJNQ
— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) February 25, 2019
In July 2015, NBC Bay Area reported that two of their journalists and a reporter from KTVU were attacked and robbed in the early morning while preparing to go on air at Pier 14, a popular tourist designation, in San Francisco. A KPIX photojournalist was also attacked and robbed by a group of young men after broadcasting live in front of a school in Oakland in November 2012.
Watson confirmed that multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 24 robbery, but neither the names of the suspects nor charges will be released until the District Attorney’s Office formally files charges.
Watson told the Tracker that at 5:15 p.m. on that day a suspect walked into a nearby hospital seeking treatment for several gunshot wounds and was arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting. Later that evening Oakland police pursued another suspect driving a car connected with the robbery and detained the driver.
As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.
Update: The Oakland Police Department can confirm at least 2 arrests have been made in conn. with the armed robbery of a Bay Area news crew and the shooting of the crew’s security guard (2/24/19). Film camera recovered. Guard treated for gunshot wound & released from hospital. pic.twitter.com/Ptpr0c7Sr0
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) February 25, 2019
“We heard a flurry of loud gunshots. Very close! More shots, I saw a guy drag the camera away and saw our guard Matt was hit,” Vazquez wrote.
Matt Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, was accompanying the news crew as a private security guard. Meredith exchanged fire with the suspect and was shot in the upper leg before the suspects fled.
“The security guard says he turned to run to retreat, there were no words exchanged, the gunman came straight up and shot him,” Vazquez told KPIX.
Meredith was transported to Highland Hospital where he was treated. He has since been released and is expected to recover, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
This is not the first time that a news crew has been targeted for theft in the San Francisco area. Violent robberies targeting news crews became a consistent problem beginning in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement, KPIX reported, which has motivated many Bay area television stations to hire private security to accompany their teams in the field.
As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
