CNN, HLN Report On CNN Center Shooting

CNN and Headline News both reported news of a shooting in its building, Atlanta’s CNN Center, around 1:40pm. CNN went with wall-to-wall coverage, while HLN went back and forth between the breaking news and other stories.

T.J. Holmes reported the shooting from the CNN newsroom. “The CNN.com newsroom, which is on the lower level, that has been evacuated,” anchor Don Lemon said. Lemon added: “We have excellent security here in the CNN Center, so they’re on top of this.”

By 1:55pm, CNN.com had posted a breaking news headline: “A man shot a woman today at CNN Center complex. A witness who is a CNN employee saw a male shoot a black female twice at the Omni hotel, which is part of CNN Center.”

Around 1:45pm, CNN producer Laura Bernardini came on the air to describe what she saw: “We actually were having lunch in McCormick & Schmidts. All of a sudden we heard people screaming and diving for cover. And we could see people running from the front to the entrance of the CNN Center. We ended up, I ended up running toward the front of the restaurant, and at that point people were saying ‘we heard gunshots, we heard gunshots.'”