SF Bay Area Photographer Robbed of Camera

By Kevin Eck 

A KGO photographer had his camera and some personal property stolen Monday afternoon.

>UPDATE: A KGO spokesperson told TVSpy the camera had a tracking device in it and has been recovered.

The East Bay Times reports the suspects showed the photographer they had a gun before robbing him. He was working near a state beach in the East Bay.

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“We can confirm that while working in Alameda, a KGO cameraman was robbed at gunpoint by two men,” KGO told TVSpy. “Thankfully our coworker was not injured during the robbery, and we are cooperating with local police investigating this incident.”

From the East Bay Times, which calls the victim a “field manager” though an ABC spokesperson told TVSpy it was a station photographer.

The victim could not provide a detailed description of the robbers, saying both were males between 20 and 30 years old and wearing sweatshirts.

They fled in what the field manager described as a white van, [Alameda Police spokesperson Hoshmand] Durani said.

The robbery Monday is the latest in a string of robberies of TV news reporters, newspaper photographers and crews with private film companies in the Bay Area over the past few years.

The San Jose Mercury News reports a camera and other items were stolen from a KTVU news van in August.

On July 22, a Pacific Gas and Electric video crew along with some employees were robbed near an Oakland Middle School.

Four days later, SF Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman reports a KRON MMJ was the victim of a snatch and grab in Berkeley.

The most public robbery happened while at least two stations were lined up for morning live shots on the Embarcadero in July 2015. Thieves brazenly took a camera from both Fox-owned KTVU and NBC-owned KNTV and injured a KNTV photographer after threatening him with a gun.

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