General, Journal

The Camera


I´ve never seen anything like it in person. A body being hoisted into a truck and people screaming. I could feel the itchy, burning sensation of tear gas in my nose. I started saying, “shit, shit shit!” to myself. I pulled out my camera, looked for my cameraman thinking he might be one of the ones filming the body, the truck at the moment. He was nowhere in sight. I took a few pictures and moved on through the crowd as they were dispersing. I kept looking for Alfredo but to no avail. We were supposed to meet at a pre-designated meeting location, a sign next to the fence where — it turns out — one person had been shot.

I called the desk and told thm what I had seen. A few minutes later I was on the air via telephone. As I walked around I could see several blood stains, people showing other media the blood on their shirts, shoes, the brain matter on the ground.

A few minutes later I hear Alfredo live on the air via telephone recounting the scene. He shot 11 minutes worth of gunfire.