OAKLAND — A television reporter, a crew member and their security guard were assaulted at gunpoint in North Oakland on Saturday, authorities said.
The robbery occurred around 5:30 p.m. when several armed suspects exited a vehicle and demanded the crew’s belongings while they were parked in the 4400 block of Market Street, authorities said.
One of the suspects pushed a victim to the ground and forcibly took his backpack, while two others pointed guns at the news crew and grabbed the security guard’s firearm, said Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Officers Association.
“The suspects stole the news crew’s television camera and microphone,” Singer said in a news release.
Singer identified the crew members as members of ABC7. The news station declined to comment on the incident when contacted Sunday.
Robberies targeting news crews for their expensive equipment are not new in the San Francisco Bay Area, but have declined in recent years. In 2021, former San Jose police officer Kevin Nishita was shot and killed while on assignment in downtown Oakland as a security guard for KRON.
No injuries were reported in the robbery and no arrests have been announced.
Anyone with information should contact the Oakland Police Department Robbery Section at 510-238-3326. Anyone with video or photos that could help the investigation can send them to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
