Univision Chicago said one of its TV crews was robbed at gunpoint while reporting on an uptick of robberies
- A Univision Chicago TV crew was robbed at gunpoint while filming a segment.
- The two-man crew was shooting a segment on the uptick of robberies when they were robbed.
A Univision Chicago TV crew was robbed at gunpoint while reporting on an uptick of robberies in the city's West Town neighborhood on Monday, Univision Chicago told Insider.
The station said the crew was gathering video for the morning newscast at the time of the robbery.
According to the police report shared with Insider by Univision Chicago, the crew — a 28-year-old man and a 42-year-old man — was outside when a black SUV and gray sedan approached them at approximately 4:53 a.m. local time.
Three unidentified men wearing ski masks and carrying firearms got out of the cars and approached the crew, according to the police report. They then "took the victims' belongings" and fled the scene, the report said. Police are investigating what happened.
A news camera and two bags with equipment and personal items were stolen, Univision Chicago said.
The station added that they are not releasing the names of the crew members out of privacy concerns. No one was injured during the encounter.
"Gratefully, the crew is safe," Luis Godinez, vice president of news at Univision Chicago, told Insider.
Godinez told the Chicago Tribune that the crew — a reporter and a photographer — was taping a story for the morning news about the uptick in robberies in Chicago's West Town neighborhood. But the footage they shot was stolen along with the camera, so the story never made it to air.
Instead, a story about local robberies was featured on Univision Chicago's 5 p.m. news, which mentioned the incident, but the crew's story was not the focal point.
"We don't want to make the story about us because there were other robberies that occurred within that same period," Godinez told the Tribune.