A carjacking suspect shot himself on live TV after police pursued him for more than an hour in West Phoenix, Ariz.
After driving on the I-10 westbound for the majority of the pursuit, the man got off the freeway and drove on the dirt roads of a small town called Salome.
The suspect pulled over on one of the roads and ran a little ways away from the vehicle before shooting himself. A Phoenix news helicopter was transmitting video of the incident and the video was shown nationally on FOX News Channel.
"We are all really sorry. That didn't belong on TV. I personally apologize to you that that happened," anchor Shepard Smith said. "That will not happen again on my watch, and I am sorry."
A Fox News Channel executive also issued a statement.
"We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five second delay," said Michael Clemente, executive vice president, News Editorial. "Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen."
Police reported the suspect fired shots at officers while driving near 43rd Avenue and Roosevelt earlier in the pursuit.
Police said a suspect carjacked a red Dodge Caliber at 43rd Avenue and Indian School.
The suspect entered the westbound I-10 from 43rd Avenue and then got off on 83rd Avenue. He did a U-turn, got back on the I-10, got off on Estrella Parkway and got back onto I-10.
Police pursued the suspect for over an hour. The car reached speeds of up to 110 mph.
ANCHOR SHEPARD SMITH'S FULL ON-AIR APOLOGY:
"Well, some explaining to do. While we were taking that car chase and showing it to you live when the guy pulled over and got out of the vehicle we went on delay. So that's why I didn't talk for about ten seconds. We created a five second delay as if you were to bleep back your DVR five seconds that's what we did with the picture we were showing you so that we would see in the studio what was happening five seconds before you did so that if anything went horribly wrong we'd be able to cut away from it without subjecting you to it. And we really messed up and we're all very sorry. That didn't belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV and I personally apologize to you that that happened. Sometimes we see a lot of things that we don't let get to you because it's not time appropriate, it's insensitive, it's just wrong. And that was wrong and that won't happen again on my watch and I'm sorry. We'll update you on what happened with that guy and how that went down tonight on the FOX Report. I'm sorry."
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Carjacking suspect shoots self on live TV
