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“Hey boy, your bride in bed?”
An odd question at 5 AM, but I looked to check before I turned back to the phone.
“Yeah, why?”
“Some jackass took a girl hostage at the Applebee’s. Wanted to make sure it wasn’t my new daughter in law.”
Thus began my first day in News...
1/12
An odd question at 5 AM, but I looked to check before I turned back to the phone.
“Yeah, why?”
“Some jackass took a girl hostage at the Applebee’s. Wanted to make sure it wasn’t my new daughter in law.”
Thus began my first day in News...
1/12
I pulled the knob on our black and white TV. Slowly, an image appeared: the news reader at the station I worked for looking stern.
“ — say the gunman IS in contact with negotiators —“
We were out the door and in the car before the anchor lady could finish her sentence...
2/12
“ — say the gunman IS in contact with negotiators —“
We were out the door and in the car before the anchor lady could finish her sentence...
2/12
My bride did in fact work at that Applebee’s. So we headed there, uncertain what we’d find. When police turned us away, we sped instead toward the TV station I worked for.
I’d spent the past year, learning to make cheesy local TV commercials.
That was about to change...
3/12
I’d spent the past year, learning to make cheesy local TV commercials.
That was about to change...
3/12
We burst into the newsroom. Someone pulled me into an edit bay and hit PLAY.
Grainy images from hours before: A bulky figure hunched around someone smaller, waving a gun and yelling at cops.
It was then I realized I knew the hostage. Knew her well.
So I ran to my van.
4/12
Grainy images from hours before: A bulky figure hunched around someone smaller, waving a gun and yelling at cops.
It was then I realized I knew the hostage. Knew her well.
So I ran to my van.
4/12
When I peeled out in my production van, I saw the station’s live truck falling in behind me.
Our main anchor was behind the wheel.
The cops let us through this time. We soon found the chief photog - bug-eyed from being on scene all night.
He pointed me to his camera.
5/12
Our main anchor was behind the wheel.
The cops let us through this time. We soon found the chief photog - bug-eyed from being on scene all night.
He pointed me to his camera.
5/12
In between the Applebee’s and a McDonald’s, the chief’s fancycam sat under its tripod. It seemed too close to the action and I stooped over as I ran toward it.
Beside the camera, I found the chief’s handheld scanner. I turned it on low and waited.
I’d be there for hours.
6/12
Beside the camera, I found the chief’s handheld scanner. I turned it on low and waited.
I’d be there for hours.
6/12
I’d never before touched a TV camera so new. Through it’s crazy clear viewfinder, I was able to make out silhouettes of the hostage-taker as he waved his weapon. Around me, SWAT cops huddled and chewed on toothpicks...
To say it felt like a movie is selling cinema short.
7/12
To say it felt like a movie is selling cinema short.
7/12
The hostage, let’s call her Cassie, was a high school buddy. I didn’t see her much that day, but later, she told me she’d watched me through the window during the whole ordeal and that it helped. I hope so, for she was surely on my mind as I jammed the scanner to my ear...
8/12
8/12
The following hours are still a blur.
Eventually, the gunman traded Cassie for his uncle, who talked him into coming out, hands up. I got that shot and the shot of Cassie running out and a bunch of other images that still simmer in my brain-pan.
No doubt they always will.
9/12
Eventually, the gunman traded Cassie for his uncle, who talked him into coming out, hands up. I got that shot and the shot of Cassie running out and a bunch of other images that still simmer in my brain-pan.
No doubt they always will.
9/12
The gunman was a waiter at the restaurant. He tried to rob the place once it closed, but cops arrived before he got away. So he took the coward’s way out and put what turned out to be a fake gun to a coworker’s head.
He did hard time and deserved every fucking day of it.
10/12
He did hard time and deserved every fucking day of it.
10/12
As for Cassie, she survived the ordeal and went on to flourish in life.
Me? I returned to the station something of a hero and never again shot another cheesy commercial. News Director legend Roy Hardee took note and made a journalist out of me.
Most days, I’m grateful.
11/12
Me? I returned to the station something of a hero and never again shot another cheesy commercial. News Director legend Roy Hardee took note and made a journalist out of me.
Most days, I’m grateful.
11/12
Thanks for reading. I left A LOT out. But distilling my origin story into Twitter-size bites has helped digest it. Look for a longer version in the memoir I really should be working on.
For now, check out what Rescue 911 did with it:
Crazy, eh?
12/12
For now, check out what Rescue 911 did with it:
Crazy, eh?
12/12
