The cable news networks kept up continuous coverage of the Omaha mall shooting into the late afternoon. MSNBC had begun airing Hardball at 5pmET, but cut away once a police news conference got underway. CNN also carried the news conference which was the first indication of the gravity of the situation: in all 14 people injured, nine dead, including the gunman.
FNC did not have access to the news conference. An insider explained to TVNewser, “The Fox affiliate in Omaha was incredibly weak on this story and was not in the correct location to take the press conference.” In fact, much of the afternoon, Fox News anchors relied on information from non-Fox affiliates, including ABC affiliate KETV (not uncommon because of the NNS news sharing agreement).
By 5:30pmET, the cable nets had mostly moved on from the story.