Man pulls a gun on TV crew during live report on gun violence

A TV crew in Chicago was caught completely off guard when a man walked into the back of a reporter’s live shot and pointed what appeared to be a gun at the cameraperson.

Fox 32, an affiliate of the network based in Chicago, reported that the man walked into the shot and held what looked to be a pistol  behind reporter Joanie Lum’s view while she delivered a segment about the city’s rising gun violence problem.

The passerby can initially be seen walking into the left side of the frame and then holding what looks to be a firearm behind the reporter’s body while she reported in Chicago’s River North neighbourhood. After holding the position for a few seconds, the man can then be seen skipping down the street until he moves out of the camera’s frame.

Police have asked the community for their assistance in identifying and locating the man who they are now calling “a person of interest”.

The shocking incident occurred while Ms Lum was reporting about the Midwest city’s growing gun violence problem, an issue that Americans across the country would be able to identify with particularly as the nation was left reeling from two deadly mass shootings in just the past two weeks.

Recent data from the city released this month showed that murders were down 6 per cent and shooting were up 13 per cent from last year, but that both incidents are still happening at significantly higher rate than between 2018-2020, Fox News reported

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided to address this growing problem head-on by announcing new restrictions on minors in recent weeks, which includes a 10pm curfew for minors throughout the city and a 6pm curfew at all public parks unless they’re with an adult.