Former CNN on-air talents involved in motel gunfight. Thankfully, they survived.

Parent Cafe
1

http://www.people.com/article/lynne-russell-chuck-de-caro-gunfight-new-mexico-robber-killed

"Former CNN anchor Lynne Russell and her husband, former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro, survived a gun battle in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, motel on Tuesday night.

Russell and De Caro had pulled into a Motel 6 after a long day of traveling. But when Russell went out to the parking lot to the couple’s car at about 11:30 p.m., she was confronted by a man wielding a gun who forced her back into her room.

“The man pushed me inside, I was airborne, literally, and landed on the bed,” Russell told Albuquerque’s KOAT 7. “That was about the time that Chuck came out of the shower. The man was just wild. He was pointing the gun, and the way that he was acting, it was as if he’d done it before.”

~snipped~

I’m sure the attacker thought that the 68 year old Lynne Russell would be an easy target. Lynn’s husband was shot 3 times, but will likely recover. The intruder did not survive.

2

I am usually very supportive of gun control and skeptical of people who feel the need to carry concealed handguns, but this seems like one scenario when a personal firearm came in handy and averted a tragedy.

I always liked Lynne Russell when she anchored.

3

I’m surprised they were staying in a Motel 6. We stayed in a few when we were young. Yikes. We decided it was worth a few dollars not to stay there anymore!

4

Sounds like a typical night at any Motel 6. Can always find Motel 6’s easily…they’re the motels with the flashing cop and ambulance lights in parking lot. I’ve stayed at a couple and they seem to draw the worst ‘guests’…I’m never going to stay at another Motel 6 again.

Bad guy picked the wrong dude and dudette with Russell and her husband. Reportedly, after husband shot bad guy, wife had to be pulled back by cops cuz she was kicking the ‘shhht’ out of bad guy on ground in parking lot.

5

Ive stayed in a Motel 6 once.
I think Id rather sleep in my car.
Glad they survived to tell the tale.

6

Another story indicated that they were traveling with a pet (don’t know if cat or dog), and that’s why they opted for Motel 6. I’m guessing that if it had been a large dog (GS, perhaps), the guy would have left immediately, but it could have been a cat or small dog.

7

Rule of the road: Always stay in a motel with interior corridors. The bad guys could still force you to open a side door with your keycard but it seems less likely. Best is to stay where all entries go past the front desk.

8

^^^
I agree, but it seems that many places that allow pets don’t have interior corridors.

Being in any hotel parking lot late at night is risky.

9

My sixth sense tells me that there’s more (much more) to this story…

10

^ agree. Something doesn’t smell right with this whole deal.

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Well now that you mention it, @interesteddad …

Maybe something having to do with husband having been Special Ops?

Let’s hear your theories!

12

I know if it were Law and Order it would turn out to have been a drug deal gone bad or some kind of a sex thing, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

13

I don’t think it’s fair to suggest that these two people are anything less that complete victims. I think they’re just as much of victims as that family in the DC area that was killed a few weeks ago when their home was invaded. In that case, they weren’t able to defend themselves for a number of reasons. In this case, the victims were.

14

La Quinta seems to usually allow pets and be nicer and safer than this place was. Have stayed at a few very nice ones. The folks we meet at breakfast there say they’re there because pets are allowed.

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Read some of the online news stories about incident. Husband didn’t hand his briefcase to thief when he asked for it…husband said there was nothing valuable in it and didn’t open it. If nothing valuable was in it, why didn’t he just give it to guy and maybe avoid shootout. Gonna maybe be like Pulp Fiction movie and we never know what was in briefcase?

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Weird too the combination to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction was 666…Russell and husband were in a Motel 6 on Route 66?

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^^ @lizard Just because the victim tells a criminal that there’s nothing valuable in his briefcase does NOT mean that there wasn’t. Do you think the victim is somehow obligated to tell the truth in this case? He may have had a weapon in there…I strongly suspect that he did have a weapon in there.

What I don’t know is how/where the H was able to his weapon since he came out of the bathroom from a shower and likely wouldn’t have had the gun on him at the time. This is why I suspect that the weapon was in the briefcase.

The H and W purposely separated in the room to provide distraction…the criminal couldn’t keep his eyes well on both at the same time. I think this is how the H was able to get to his gun.

As @DonnaL suggests…sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I doubt that in the story below that there is “more to the story” in a way that suggests that the news crew somehow is partly guilty.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/News-crews-robbed-in-S-F-camera-operator-6362833.php

@HImom Yes, LaQuintas usually accept animals. They too often have exterior corridors.

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@lizard Here is one report, I don’t know how accurate it is:


[QUOTE=""]
When the man started shooting at de Caro, who was coming out of the shower and completely naked, the couple knew they had to act. As his wife ducked behind furniture to escape gunshots, de Caro grabbed for his gun and fired at the assailant, killing him. Both Russell and de Caro have concealed carry permits.

[/QUOTE]

“It was a gun battle, and Chuck was bleeding heavily, but he didn’t stop firing because the man was firing on him, and he was looking for me,” Russell said.

The Post reports de Caro, shot three times, underwent surgery and is expected to spend the next several days in recovery. “I was determined to save my dream girl’s life — even if it cost my own,” de Caro said.

Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/former-cnn-anchor-lynne-russells-husband-kills-armed-robber-201527#ixzz3emti5dQL


[QUOTE=""]

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But then CNN reports:


[QUOTE=""]
Russell said a gunman came into their Motel 6 room through the open door after she had just returned from getting something out of the car. The man pushed her into the room.

[/QUOTE]

Former CNN correspondent Chuck de Caro and his wife, Lynne Russell, a former Headline News anchor celebrate at a CNN anniversary party in June.
De Caro, who worked at CNN in the mid-1980s as special assignments correspondent, was coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower and saw Russell being held at gunpoint.

“He tried to change the guy’s mind,” Russell said.

The gunman wanted money and other valuables, she said.

She told the gunman she would look in her purse to see what they had. She reached down and put one of the two handguns the couple had in a side table into the purse. She gave the handbag to her husband.

Russell said the guns were legal, something police are still investigating.

The man’s behavior was increasingly erratic, Russell said. He told them to get a briefcase he saw.

The couple explained there was nothing of value in the bag, but the man lunged at them and “went around the bed and then opened fire on Chuck. There was a firefight inside the room.”

De Caro was shot once in the leg and twice in the abdomen.

He fired all the rounds in the first handgun then picked up the other and shot the man. The man, who police identified in a news release as the “offender in the altercation,” was found in the parking lot. He died at a hospital, CNN affiliate KOAT reported.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

19

I don’t know about this, I think there is more to the story. I read a comment where the wife said they didn’t know what to give the robber. Seriously? How about your wallet? Seems like they didn’t want to hand anything over, and were willing to risk death. It doesn’t seem like a good trade, as the husband was shot three times. I’m all for self defense, but sometimes you’d be safer handing it over. Then again, maybe the media got it wrong or I misunderstood.

20

Just curious about how the assailant was found in the parking lot after being shot so many times in the motel room. Maybe I’m not understanding the storyline and timeline.