A CNN crew was confronted by protesters over the weekend in Atlanta, with reporter Natasha Chen telling anchor Wolf Blitzer that the crew decided to “back out of the area” after people “got aggressive” and broke its camera.
“There were protesters very angry that we were recording this and tried to block our cameras,” Chen told Blitzer live on the air during breaking news coverage of the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks on Saturday night.
“And at that point they got aggressive, and our CNN camera was broken. … We decided to back out of that area,” Chen said
“I could see that there were other people in the crowd asking why they were doing this and why others were egging them on,” she added later.
Brooks was killed by an Atlanta police officer after Brooks attempted to flee following a failed sobriety test outside of a Wendy’s restaurant, officials said. Brooks, 26, reportedly turned and pointed a Taser he had taken from the officer before the shooting. The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office has ruled his death a homicide.
Protests erupted following news of the shooting in Atlanta, where CNN’s world headquarters is located. The Wendy’s where the shooting occurred was set fire while protesters blocked off Interstate 75.
CNN’s headquarters was vandalized last month during nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, was seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds in a video that emerged soon after the arrest.
Three other officers at the scene were also charged with aiding and abetting.