Police in Southern California are investigating a pair of drive-by shootings that occurred outside a local television station within the past week.
The first shooting happened late Friday evening outside the Bakersfield studios of Sinclair-owned KBAK (Channel 29, CBS) and KBFX (Channel 58, Fox).
Surveillance video shared by the TV station showed a gunman firing several shots in the direction of the TV station, with bullets striking the outer wall of a conference room and an administrative office.
A second shooting took place on Tuesday, with bullets flying in the direction of the building. It wasn’t clear what was struck in that incident.
KBAK said no one was hurt in either shooting. Police said they were attempting to track down a dark-colored sedan visible on surveillance video published by the TV station, but additional information about a suspect or suspects was not available.
A spokesperson for Sinclair said the station was cooperating with local law enforcement on the matter.
“We are deeply concerned by a second shooting incident at our KBAK/KBFX studios in Bakersfield, following a similar incident last week,” the spokesperson said by e-mail. “Thankfully, no one was injured. The safety and well-being of our employees is our highest priority, and we are taking these incidents extremely seriously. We are grateful to the Bakersfield Police Department for its swift response, and we appreciate their continued efforts to investigate these incidents and bring those responsible to justice.”
The shooting is at least the second involving a local TV station over the past year. Last August, a gunman fired several at the TV studios of KXTV (Channel 10, ABC), a TEGNA-owned station in Sacramento.
Prosecutors later arrested a man suspected of shooting toward the TV station, and claimed his motivation was tied to ABC’s suspension of late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. The suspect, Anibal Hernandez Santana, is still in custody while separate federal and state criminal cases against him proceed through court.
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Editor’s note: The author of this story handles media requests and external communications for the law firm retained by Anibal Hernandez Santana for his legal defense in both cases.
