Fox News Reporter Claims to See Baltimore Cop Shoot Man; Police Debunk Story
Initial reports are coming in about a Baltimore police officer allegedly shooting a black man at the intersection of Penn and North Aves., one week after riots erupted in that city over the police killing of Freddie Gray.
Both a Fox News crew and RT correspondent Manuel Rapalo claimed to have witnessed the shooting:
shooting in baltimore was about 10 minutes ago;was running from police when shot
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) May 4, 2015
I just saw a guy get shot! Police are clearing the scene and using pepper spray. I have no idea what's going on #Baltimore
— Manuel Rapalo (@Manuel_Rapalo) May 4, 2015
Fox’s Mike Tobin, who witnessed the incident, called into the network’s daytime news hour to describe what happened. He said that police shot the young, black man as he was running away and that he saw a revolver on the ground that may have belonged to the man who was shot. The unidentified man was taken away in an ambulance following the shooting.
Watch video from the scene below, via Fox News:
A witness caught the choatic aftermath of the incident on a cell phone camera. Watch below:
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
UPDATE — 3:22 p.m. ET: Baltimore Police are providing a conflicting account of the events to the media. See tweets from reporters below:
Police say nobody shot on North Ave. Suspect threw gun on ground. Suspects gun went off. Again …nobody hit
— Brad Bell (@ABC7Brad) May 4, 2015
BREAKING: #Baltimore police tell CNN man accidentally shot himself after trying to throw gun.
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) May 4, 2015
UPDATE — 3:25 p.m. ET: The official Baltimore Police Twitter account has denied the police shooting.
The reports of a man being shot at North and Pennsylvania Ave are NOT true. Officers have arrested a man for a handgun at the location
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) May 4, 2015
UPDATE — 3:34 p.m. ET: Fox’s Shepard Smith reported the Baltimore Police Department’s statement and confronted reporter Mike Tobin about the discrepancy between what he said he saw and what the police say happened.
Watch video below, via Fox News:
UPDATE — 3:52 p.m. ET: Shepard Smith has apologized for what appears to be Fox’s erroneous reporting.
“We were wrong. Our people on scene were wrong,” he said. “Theirs was an error that was honest and straightforward and our duty as journalists is not to make mistakes and when we make mistakes we are duty-bound to correct them immediately and as clearly as possible.”
Watch video below, via Fox News:
[Photo via screengrab]
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