Suspects In KPIX News Crew Armed Robbery Appear In Court
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The suspects in the shooting of a guard protecting a KPIX news crew during an armed robbery over the weekend appeared before a judge Wednesday.
On Sunday evening, a KPIX 5 news crews covering the Oakland teachers strike was robbed of a camera by two suspects. One suspect shot a guard protecting the crew. The guard shot one of the suspects before they got away.
Oakland police later arrested the three suspects. The guard was released from the hospital and is expected to recover.
The three suspects appeared in an Oakland courtroom Wednesday afternoon where they were charged.
Suspects Maurice Turner and Donald Jeter, both 21-year-old men from Bay Point, and Lolita Brinson, 32, of Oakland, were charged and arraigned on Wednesday.
Jeter, who has a prior conviction for first-degree residential robbery in Contra Costa County in 2015, is charged with two counts each of second-degree robbery and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.
He's also charged with one count each of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle, evading an officer, possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, carrying a loaded firearm on his person and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person.
Turner, who was on probation after being convicted in Contra Costa County in November for second-degree robbery and assault likely to cause great bodily injury, is charged with two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of possession of a firearm with a prior conviction.
Brinson is charged with a felony count of possession of stolen property.
Attacks on news crews are not a new issue. Oakland police say they became a consistent problem in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The attacks are impacting amateur photographers too. Daniel Gallo says he was shooting pictures of Christmas lights back on December 19th when two men knocked him to the ground, "punched me in the side of the face, I was holding onto the tripod but they took my camera," Gallo said.
Gallo says San Francisco Police haven't made an arrest in his case and he still doesn't know what happened to his camera. It's changed the way he approaches photo shoots.
"I don't go out in the evening anymore, if I do I bring someone with me but I'm still on edge," Gallo said.
The suspects are being assigned lawyers from the public defenders office and are scheduled to appear in front of a judge again Thursday.