TV reporter’s camera stolen during an interview about thefts, California cops say

Doing an interview for a news story on car burglaries plaguing a San Francisco neighborhood, television reporter Don Ford spotted three men jump from a white luxury sedan.

“One had a gun and put it in my face and said, ‘We’re taking the camera,’” Ford, a KPIX reporter, told the station. “My whole thought at the moment was, ‘Be calm.’ Let’s not get this guy excited. He’s got the gun. I don’t.”

The robbers took the TV camera and fled in the incident at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday in the city’s Twin Peaks neighborhood, The Mercury News reported.

Ford had been preparing to conduct an interview with a resident on a rash of vehicle burglaries in the neighborhood, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“I just looked and I said, ‘I’m not going to get shot today,’” the homeowner told KPIX.

Police later recovered the stolen camera, a Twitter post said.

“This incident is ridiculous & unacceptable, but not entirely unexpected in San Francisco in 2021,” wrote Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the neighborhood, in a series of Twitter posts.

Mandelman called on the city to bolster funding for public safety agencies and adopt better strategies to deter repeat offenders.

“I’m not sure my adrenaline has settled down yet,” Ford told KPIX. He said he was shaken but unhurt by the robbery.

Thieves have repeatedly targeted film crews and television news teams for camera thefts in the Bay Area in recent years, McClatchy News reported.