A Univision news crew was robbed in Chicagos’ Wicker Park early Monday morning.
Block Club Chicago said that at 4:30 a.m. Monday, a reporter and a photojournalist were getting ready for a live shot on North Milwaukee Avenue when a black SUV and a grey sedan pulled up to them, a police spokesperson and the reporter said.
Three men “wearing ski masks and displaying firearms” got out of the vehicles and took numerous belongings from the crew before fleeing, police said.
Univision Chicago vice president of news Luis Godinez confirmed the two men robbed were Univision employees, and that they are safe.
The reporter, who asked to remain anonymous, told Block Club on Monday he and his photographer were preparing to do a series of live shots about recent armed robberies in the area when they were robbed. He said the fact that he and his photographer are now part of the larger story, the reporter said, is “total irony.”
“As a journalist, you never want to be the story, right? You’re reporting on the story but you never think that you can become the story. That’s not why we do this,” he said. “So I guess it’s another reminder of how important it is to keep doing these stories and to keep pressure on our local authorities to try to prevent more events like that.”
The reporter said the only thing of value stolen was the crew’s video camera. While he and the photographer were rattled by the attack, they’re both doing OK, he said.
A city alderman told WLS in Chicago that the crimes are getting more brazen and violent.
“I was out watching the police, working with them, and they were doing a great job trying to track a couple of crews down but again, they got up to high speeds and they called it off,” he said. “They don’t want to endanger other people. I know people want us to … just chase every criminal, but when it gets to a situation where it’s a liability of not only on the city … the issue of hurting other pedestrians or drivers, you have to be very careful.”