On Thursday, a man pointed a gun directly at the camera during a FOX 32 live broadcast on gun violence in Chicago. The incident took place during Fox 32-TV’s morning newscast “Good Morning Chicago.”
“Around 7 a.m. on Thursday while FOX 32 reporter Joanie Lum was in the middle of a live report about Chicago gun violence, a man walked up and pointed what appeared to be a firearm at our crew,” FOX 32 reports. The incident occurred at the corner of Clark and Hubbard in River North.
Now, Chicago police are asking for the community’s help in finding the man. The department has issued a community alert about the incident. The gunman was described by police as Black, 18 to 25 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, weighing 130 to 150 pounds with black hair. He was wearing a dark hoodie, a black jacket and light ripped blue jeans and dark shoes.
Right now, police are calling the man a person of interest, accused of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Good Morning Chicago anchor Anita Padilla said Lum and the crew are “shaken” but unharmed.
“It happened to @JoanieLum and her photographer at 7:06 a.m. The gun was one foot from her head as he pointed at the camera or cameraman Gary,” she said. “She is understandably shaken. Thank God she is okay.”
The year of 2021 ended as one of the most violent on record in Chicago, as a rise in the number of shootings left more people dead than in any single year in a quarter century, according to statistics released by the Chicago police department. According to the department, 2021 ended with 797 homicides. That is 25 more than were recorded in 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996. In total, there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has attempted to tackle the issues plaguing the city by announcing restrictions on the movement of minors throughout the city, imposing a citywide 10 P.M. weekend curfew and another 6 P.M. public park curfew for minors that are not accompanied by an adult, according to FOX News.
