Wednesday's big school shooting that has been all over the local and national news happened right across the street from the WKYC studios on Lakeside Avenue in downtown Cleveland.A 14 year old shooter took two guns inside SuccessTech Academy (part of Cleveland School System) & started a shooting spree. 4 people were shot & one additional injury resulted.
A fight earlier in the week was observed by a number of WKYC employees outside at the school and captured on our WKYC surveillance cameras. (To Watch, see link below). The shooter was apparently the same person involved in Monday's incident.The drama unfolded about lunch time...and immediately our live coverage started - though getting to or leaving the TV station was impossible because all the roads around the building were closed.
Happening about the same time, a train derailed just east of Cleveland in Painesville - causing a major fire. 13 of a 100 car train went off the tracks and caught fire. Evacuations were ordered and thus a 2nd major event had begun. Chopper 3 was dispatched to the scene, along with several news crews on the ground.I took some pictures of our off air coverage and some behind the scenes in both the studio and control room.
Studio B at WKYC hosted a quickly arranged press conference that was carried live all the local stations and major cable networks (MSNBC, CNN & FOX) led by the Cleveland police department, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Schools CEO Eugene Sanders at 4 pm. Plus, we were the only station to have them both in the studio, live on the air.
It has been quite a day here at WKYC. By nightfall satellite trucks from all the major cable news organizations filled the Channel 3 parking lot to continue coverage over the next few days as more details unfold on this tragedy.
IMPORTANT STORY LINKS:
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS:
*"Off Air" & "Behind the Scenes" Live Coverage Pictures
*Satellite Trucks & News Crews at WKYC
*WKYC.com Shooting Picture Galleries
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:
*WKYC surveillance cam video of Monday's fight outside school
*WKYC surveillance video of immediate aftermath of shooting Wednesday
*Thursday's Press Conference Update 10/11/07
INFORMATION:
*24/7 Updates on WKYC.com
*Timeline of the News events
*Feel free to post your comments here about this tragedy: CLICK HERE
