Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- July 6, 2025
- Location
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Targets
- KWTV-DT
- Equipment damaged
- Actor
- Private individual
Equipment Damage
KWTV-DT Chief Meteorologist David Payne speaks during a news broadcast about the station’s weather radar in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The system was intentionally disabled on July 6, 2025.
Man gets suspended sentence for vandalizing Oklahoma TV station’s weather radar
Oklahoma man Anthony Tyler Mitchell was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence on Feb. 18, 2026, for vandalizing the weather radar system at KWTV-DT in Oklahoma City.
In July 2025, surveillance footage caught Mitchell climbing a fence to the secured radar site. The station reported that he disabled a key power disconnect, smashed the power meter and destroyed the generator’s transfer switch control panel, damaging a key piece of equipment used to track severe storms and communicate emergency alerts.
Mitchell was charged with two felonies — malicious destruction of property and damage to critical infrastructure — and a misdemeanor for entering with intent to commit a felony.
In addition to the suspended sentence for the equipment damage, he was given two years suspended for destruction of property and one year suspended for entering with intent, an Oklahoma County District Court clerk confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. All three sentences are to be served concurrently, with six months’ credit for time served.
Mitchell was also ordered to pay restitution, submit to a mental health evaluation and recommended psychiatric treatment, and to have no contact with the station.
The weather radar system at KWTV-DT in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was intentionally disabled in an act of vandalism on July 6, 2025, damaging a key piece of equipment used to track severe storms and communicate emergency alerts.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect climbing a fence to the secured radar site, the station reported. Within minutes, he allegedly disabled a key power disconnect, smashed the power meter and broke into the generator’s transfer switch control panel before destroying it.
The suspect, Anthony Tyler Mitchell, 39, has been charged with two felonies in connection with the crime — malicious destruction of property and damage to critical infrastructure — and a misdemeanor for entering with intent to commit a felony.
In a July 19 press release, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the charges and said the act “imperiled public safety.”
“Radar technology is vitally important and saves the lives of countless Oklahomans every year,” Drummond said.
An anti-government militia group, Veterans On Patrol, claimed responsibility for the crime in an interview with the station, but authorities have not confirmed any connection between Mitchell and the group. Its founder, Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, has publicly encouraged attacks on radar systems, which he falsely claims are used by the military to control the weather.
David Payne, KWTV-DT’s chief meteorologist, said in a news broadcast that the station operates one of the most powerful live radars in Oklahoma.
“All of the weather radars in the U.S. are built strictly to inform and warn the public and keep the public safe, and that’s exactly why we have our live radar,” Payne said.
Mitchell is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 17.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
