Fox News Reporter In Baltimore ‘Witnesses’ Police Shooting That Never Happened, Apology Issued
After prematurely reporting that a suspect in Baltimore was shot by police during a pursuit, Fox News’ Shepard Smith issued an on-air apology for getting ahead of the story.
During a breaking news broadcast, Smith followed up on claims from Fox News correspondent, Michael “Mike” Tobin, who said he and his crew witnessed a police-involved shooting while they broadcast live from the epicenter of the Baltimore riots sparked by the death of Freddie Gray.
Earlier, Baltimore Police Department posted a tweet about a possible shooting in another location of the city. Fox says the alert on Twitter could have been intermingled with the report it issued in error, as the situation was fluid.
Shooting: 2500 block Marbourne Ave. Man reported to be shot multiple times. Southern District detectives investigating.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) May 4, 2015
Smith broke the news and said that their “own news crews witnessed” what’s being described to him as “a man [seen on a stretcher from live video footage from the scene] was running down the street; police were running after him; out people didn’t hear if there was something said… what they did see was one shot fired, that man down, police shot this person apparently, and then Mike Tobin saw a gun on the scene. We do not know the condition of the person who was shot.”
The breaking news headline on the screen during Fox’s coverage of the alleged shooting summed up Smith’s reporting on the information from producers on the scene in Baltimore.
“Fox Producer: ‘We saw cop chase down and shoot man.”
“But it is quite something that right in the middle of all this media chaos, right in the spot where all this stuff was going down, an officer shoots… a police officer shoots a black guy, and he’s in the back of an ambulance.”
Smith and his colleague continued by saying how rare it is to witness a shooting anywhere as it’s taking place while covering another unrelated.
Meanwhile, another Fox News reporter on the scene interviewed a witness named Tiffany who claims she witnessed the entire shooting at the check cashing store. She said she saw police shoot the “boy in the back” with her “own eyes,” and there is nothing police can say to justify the shooting. Furthermore, she said there was no weapon on the shooting victim’s person while he was running.
Smith interjects and says a police commander reports there was a weapon on the scene that was dropped and “went off.” Tanya then breaks down in tears and say she watched cops “kill that boy” and they “shot that boy for no reason.”
Moments later, cameras panned to a police spokesperson on the scene who said there was no police shooting. When asked why, he said, “because there is no victim.” Apparently, the suspect was arrested for illegally carrying a gun, but pursuing officers never fired a shot.
Meanwhile, Smith reports new information that came in from police that refutes a shooting at the location reported by Fox News. Smith dismisses the entire thing as the fog created by a live stressful event. He vouches for Tobin, whose covered many high-profile situations, both in the United States and abroad.
“What happens is that… we screwed up… and what we had was nothing. And the truth is, according to police, is that we have no gunshot victim,” Smith says before saying “we were wrong… and when we make mistakes, we are duty-bound to correct them… and we were wrong.”
The city of Baltimore has been on edge in wake of Gray’s death, the indictment of six police officers, riots, and a curfew that was just lifted by the mayor. Thankfully, Fox News quickly retracted its error on the shooting of a black man by a white police officer at ground zero, as a portion of the city has been called.
