News crew caught in gunfire near South Carolina park, vehicle damaged

A WJZY news vehicle was struck with a stray bullet while two television journalists sat inside working on an unrelated story in Chester, South Carolina, on April 16, 2025.

Reporter Jen Cardone and photojournalist Donald Fountain reported that they were finishing a piece on water runoff issues near the Chester County Fairgrounds at around 3:30 p.m. when gunfire erupted.

Cardone told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that before the incident, she had been working in the vehicle for two hours and wearing noise canceling headphones to review her interviews.

“We had just gotten our script approved and I tracked for my package, and Donald was starting to edit everything together,” she said. “I was working on the web story, and all of a sudden there were firecrackers in the parking lot.”

Moments later, Cardone said they heard a man scream and saw him run to hide behind the news vehicle, telling them to call 911 because he had been shot.

“I was like, ‘Oh, OK. These are not firecrackers, these are bullets,’” she told the Tracker. “It was about 12 shots, but it was kind of rapid fire, and one of them hit what felt like the roof of the car.”

Chester County dispatchers reported multiple armed individuals were seen and that approximately 14 shots were fired, one of which struck the news vehicle, hitting just above the passenger window where Cardone was sitting.

“If I had been leaning forward and not sitting back to edit and work on the story or if that bullet just came down a few inches, I’d probably be dead right now, not talking to you,” Cardone said in her report.

Neither of the journalists was injured, though one individual was struck in the leg and was released following treatment. In a post on social media, Cardone wrote that in 10 years of reporting the experience was a first, adding, “Thankful to be alive and okay but still shaken up.”

Cardone told the Tracker she didn’t think they had been targeted, as the news vehicle was unmarked, and that they had just been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“If you’ve ever seen a car that’s been shot up, those go right through both sides of the car,” she said. “So the fact that it hit at the angle that it hit, and it didn’t get any closer to me or it didn’t hit the window — we could have gotten hit by glass — and none of that happened. The fact that we were able to walk away from that unscathed is completely crazy.”

WJZY reported that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division has taken over the shooting investigation, which is ongoing.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include comment from Jen Cardone.