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CBS cameraman robbed in front of Oakland Tech High School

on November 8, 2012

A group of men robbed CBS cameraman Greg Welk outside Oakland Tech yesterday afternoon, hit him in the face, and took his camera before fleeing in a car.

“Photographer Greg Welk and reporter Anne Makovec had just finished their noon report on the passage of Prop 30  in front of Oakland Technical High School on the 4300 block of Broadway,” read a copyrighted statement on the KPIX website. “After the live shot, an unknown number of men rushed up, punched Welk and grabbed his camera.”

Oakland Police Department spokesperson Johnna Watson said there were no updates on whether or not the suspects were affiliated with Oakland Tech.

“The incident had nothing to do with Oakland Tech,” said Shawn Raeke, the high school’s assistant principal.

“Welk suffered minor injuries, was treated at a hospital and released, according to Bolden-Monifa,” read the statement. “Makovec was not hurt.”

Pendarvis Harshaw and Mihir Zaveri contributed to this report.

14 Comments

  1. Texas on November 8, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    Only in Oakland



  2. Mr Freely on November 9, 2012 at 8:09 am

    I think the Tribune said that the camera equipment was worth
    $20,000. Twenty thousand dollars, when with an iPhone you can
    create your personal television station.

    If the news crews were smart they would use drones, and not
    tempt our lads with expensive cameras. Steve Jobs and Steve
    Wozniak would have been doing the same after school pranks.



    • iwillshootyoutwice on November 9, 2012 at 11:29 am

      “tempt our lads with expensive cameras” Those “lads” should be in prison if they dont know how to act in society. There should be no special rule accommodating low life ghetto thugs just because they are poor.



      • Mr Freely on November 9, 2012 at 6:20 pm

        What about if they’re nerds like Jobs and Wozniak?



        • shoottwice on November 12, 2012 at 9:38 am

          then they would have to apply for a silly hair permit first at the Department of Silly Hair. Fill in the form 1745b “Extraordinary silly hair” and see if they are qualified for the hair first. Then come back and I’ll explain the rest………



          • Mr Freely on November 15, 2012 at 10:43 am

            What I mean, you silly person, is should they be
            treated differently because they committed a
            street crime instead of a nerdy white collar
            crime like Jobs and Wozniak?



    • Marshall Mathers on November 9, 2012 at 4:20 pm

      Drones?! WTF?
      You mean the kind with with Hellfire missiles attached?

      CMOS sensors (the part that captures and digitizes the images) are generally quite cheap now — that’s why cell phones can have 8-40MP capabilities now. Besides market pricing (small market = they can charge more for marginal features that aren’t worth putting in EVERY camera like ruggedization), professional grade cameras are generally more expensive b/c of their optics. No amount of automation “to make them drones” would change that.

      Of course, they could film everything with $150 GoPro cameras…. but the image quality would suffer.

      No matter if they were $150 or $20K — that still doesn’t give hoodrats permission to beat people up to steal their camera equipment.
      -mm



      • Mr Freely on November 9, 2012 at 6:22 pm

        What’s your point?



  3. Jennifer Easton on November 9, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    This happened to a group of students from the Ella Baker Center recently who were filming a piece about violence in Oakland.



  4. Marty Price on November 10, 2012 at 10:40 pm

    It is not only in Oakland, ahd nothing to do with Tech students, and the license numbers of these arrogant fools was given to the cops. They will be caught.To imply that this was an afterschool prank, that a Jobs or Wozniak would do is demonstrable ignorance,



    • Mr Freely on November 12, 2012 at 8:35 am

      Look at Clint Eastwood aka Dirty Harry. He attended Oakland
      Tech and became a rich and influential film director glorifying
      psychopathic cops. If Jobs or Wozniak attended Oakland Tech perhaps they would have started Apple as muggers not phone pranksters.

      How can you be so sure they had not connection with
      Oakland Tech?



      • shoottwice on November 12, 2012 at 9:43 am

        they were Just doing a little shopping while on their way to early voting for Obama…..



        • Mr Freely on November 12, 2012 at 6:52 pm

          Exactly, white collar criminals vs. street crime. Supporters of
          Mitt Romney commit financial crimes on a historic scale
          and are lauded as symbols of American Success, while Obama
          supporters, steal out right.

          Jobs and “the Woz” hack Ma Bell and land in the history books, while the camera thieves that have no connection to Oakland Tech, at least according to Marty Price, go to jail. Maybe Clint Eastwood will offer them a job when they get out.



          • Marty Price on November 24, 2012 at 9:25 pm

            Mr. Freely as a life long resident of Oakland, attending Longfellow,Durant, Westlake and Tech, much less retiring from Tech as AP in 04. I have sosurces in this city that you obviously do not. I have coached baseball, soccer, and worked in meaningful capacity throughout my life. Your sarcasm is flatterring rookie, and I was proven right. People thik our kids are caught up in this “no snitch thing” but the majority of them want a safe school environment and if they trust their teachers and administrators they will just drop off nuggets of info. I love it when these low lifes get caught, and like I stated earlier, the cops had the numbers on the plates from jump street, that means instantly!



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