Three people were shot Friday near Santa Monica College, and a suspect was subsequently arrested in the school’s library. The shooting took place just miles away from where President Obama was attended a fundraiser in Los Angeles.
KCAL was the first station to report the news at 12:16 p.m., in the middle of its noon newscast. Sandra Mitchell anchored and Kara Finnstrom reported from Santa Monica College. KTTV was next at at 12:22 p.m. Maria Sansone and Tony McEwing anchored for the Fox O&O. KABC broke into “The Chew” at 12:30 p.m. with Ric Romero anchoring and Sid Garcia reporting from the scene. KCBS began simulcasting KCAL’s continuous coverage at 12:34 p.m. KTLA was next at 12:36, and KNBC — which was airing NBC’s coverage of the French Open — reported the shooting at 1:18 p.m.
The stations relied mostly on ground shots from the scene because of flight restrictions in the area due to Obama’s visit to Los Angeles prevented any aerial pictures.
“Normally we would have Sky 9 and Sky 2 up over the scene to bring you this breaking news, but there are flight restrictions in the air because of this Presidential visit,” Mitchell said on KCBS.