2 journalists killed in North Carolina when tree falls onto SUV

Two journalists in North Carolina died Monday when a tree fell onto their SUV, WYFF-TV reports. The Greenville, South Carolina-based station announced that their anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were both covering the impact of rain in Polk County when the incident took place.

WYFF-TV said McCormick joined the station this year but covered the local news for more than a decade. They said Smeltzer joined the newsroom in 2007 as a reporter. In 2014, he became the channel's Sunday evening anchor.

"All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron," the station said.

The tree fell in the same county where a landslide killed a woman inside her home on May 19, the Associated Press reports.

Anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air that McCormick and Smeltzer were "beloved members of our team — our family."

In:
• North Carolina