Reposting these video summaries for discussion (Quoting in the order in which the videos were made instead of the order I summarized them):
FRED's Live Video from Oct 12, 2019
My summary/observations/opinions:
Fred Davenport with WVTM 13 News says "We're already off the air, it's Saturday night live" as he shows a police car parked at Tom Brown Village. We briefly see a glimpse of the other reporter there, Chip Scarborough, walking out of camera view and looking down at his phone. (They seem to be standing in the area that was later taped off with crime scene tape. MOO.).
FD says he wants to get out a "pretty serious story", typically we wouldn't hear from him on Saturday but he stopped what he was doing to get the info out. There is a young girl missing. He holds up a phone with KM's picture and says her name and that she is missing from Tom Brown Village, it's considered North Avondale, 41st street is the closest street. He asks people to screenshot and share that she is missing from Birmingham. Birmingham police are there investigating.
FD says he was talking with his coworker CS who has been there along with Adam (no last name) getting info. There was a birthday party that took place there. FD says that the parents or supervisors of the child stepped away at some point and a "black SUV" approached. A man inside that SUV had taken the child. An 11 year boy actually witnessed the incident and reported it. So now they are still looking for the girl. He repeats KM's name and says she goes by "Cupcake". He says there is no tag number for the SUV at this time. They are waiting on BPD to release all the details to find out if the vehicle description is accurate. We hear a woman talking to FD and telling him that the vehicle is Black or Dark blue with a Brown bumper. FD says it's a Toyota Forerunner, Black or Blue with a brown bumper that protrudes or sticks out, the bumper could be damaged. FD says the info is from Carol Robertson standing next to him.
About 3:50 minutes in he says KM has been missing "Since eight tonight". (This is the earliest time I have seen reported and probably accurate based on the video LE later released of the kids playing. For some reason most other reports said 8:30. Perhaps 8:30 is when the reporters first arrived on scene? MOO.)
People are asking the reporter why no Amber Alert. He says it doesn't come out automatically, it has to go through several levels but he was told they are working on an Amber Alert, it is underway. He shows KM's photo again, repeating she is missing from Tom Brown Village and adds that TBV is in North Avondale near Kingston. He tells the viewers how to screenshot the image to share.
FD says multiple BPD officiers are there working the case. He pans and we see two police cars there. On the road between the 2 police cars there are circular skid marks (not sure if it's related/relevant). FD says a lot of people who live in the housing complex are out there. He repeats the story about there being a birthday party, the parents stepping away from the child for a few moments, and the vehicle description. A man grabbed the child and all of it was witnessed by an 11 year old boy.
FD asks someone nearby if there are any more details on the car to share. We hear the additional detail that the bumper was described as "Peanut Butter Brown". FD moves over to tell CS the vehicle details he got from the officer. CS says he is standing by to do a "TV cut in". FD comes back to talk to the FB live and says "the car has rims on it. Possibly a Forerunner. It's a Toyota, Black or Blue but it has a front bumper on it that is brown in color. If you see that vehicle call 911. The child may be in that car. The child is considered in danger."
FD shows the photo of KM again. He is not sure if the photo was taken that day (It was. MOO.) because it is cold outside today. He tells us she goes by "Cupcake" and she is three.
We hear a woman laughing loudly somewhere there. He repeats that an AA is underway. Your phones should go off once the AA is approved to be sent out to the public. We see a police officer getting something out of a parked police car and there is more hysterical laughing from a woman. (It seems to me that people are going about their business on a Saturday night having fun and not everyone out there is looking for KM or aware of the situation yet. MOO.)
The comments ask FD what the scene is like and he says it's calm, there are multiple officers there but there is no blocked off area, no checkpoints to get to the scene. FD had been told before he got there there had been some issues with crowd control or people upset, understandably so since a 3 year old is missing. (We don't see very many people in the video. FD is maintaining a far distance from the people outside and focusing on the police cars. MOO.)
About 13:20 in FD reads the AA guidelines. We hear a sound and he says
his station just sent out an alert which will go to a lot of phones. AA Guidelines: LE must confirm that an abduction has taken place. The child must be at risk of serious injury or death. There must be a sufficient descriptive info about the captor or captor's vehicle. The child must be a minor, under 18. FD says that with social media we can really get out info about the child missing.
He shows the photo of KM again and says they can screenshot it or they can go to the news stations page and they just pushed out the story that can be shared. He repeats vehicle info and says call 911 if anyone sees the vehicle.
People are asking FD via comments why hasn't the AA come out yet and he says they are making sure they get all that info and that it is correct that the AA info has to be correct the first time it goes out. Y'all have to be patient. For now just share what we have put out to the public.
FD mentions again that the vehicle has rims on it, black or blue with brown bumper and rims. There was a birthday party, a man got out of the vehicle and grabbed the girl. An 11 year old boy witnessed this all unfold. The reporter does not know which direction the vehicle was heading.
FD asks a police officer if they had a tag number. The reply is that as far as he knows there wasn't one. FD asks if there was a description of the captor. The answer is No.
About 22 minutes in FD talks to Carol about the many comments he is getting saying they had seen KM at McDonalds in Roebuck. She heard the baby was seen at Eastlake Park looking for her mom. (Seems they are getting many tips about children who look like KM. MOO.) FD tells his viewers that police have been notified about the McDonalds sighting.
There are at least 4 police cars on the scene that we can see. The reporters discuss quietly in the background if there is anything else to say. Female reporter (Carol?) is talking about how she has worn the same clothes all day, on every shot they have done and the commenters on live have noticed her clothing for some reason. People are also mad that she said "projects" and not apartments when she reported on it. She says something like "did you not know this is the Avondale ***** " (I can't hear the starred out words-- possibly she says "everyone calls it Avondale murder projects"? MOO). FD says loudly it's Tom Brown Village in Avondale. FD goes back to talking to his viewers and says he has seen the tips they are all talking about but nothing has been confirmed.
About 24 minutes in FD shows KM's photo again. We see a number of police officers walking around in the background and background noise seems to have increased with many more people milling around and talking. A police officer opens the trunk of his vehicle and closes it. FD says LE is about to put up tape "for crowd control". Carol in the background says they have been working on the AA for 30 minutes. FD asks if they have all the criteria met for an AA and she says yes.
FD says the PIO is working to get more info for the reporters to share with the public. Someone asks where the mother is and FD is not sure. Cars are being moved out the immediate area where FD is standing. The crowd of people talking to LE seems to be growing. FD says he doesn't know anything about the crowd behind him and they are talking about putting him on camera because it's an urgent matter. A police officer comes waving his or her arms to tell people to move back from the area. A woman (Carol?) asks if she needs to move her car. Another woman answers "if you don't want to get stuck in here..." FD asks where they want him and he moves to the sidewalk. He says he only has 20% left on his battery. Hopefully the AA will go out as soon as possible.
FD repeats the vehicle info one last time and asks Carol if she is leaving. FD walks down the sidewalk and says he has to head out but Chip is staying and a new live should be up for viewers to click on. FD has to be somewhere else in Birmingham. We see the yellow crime scene tape up now (last minute of the video). FD has to go under the tape to get out. Chip is going to take over getting the info out to the public. We hear Chip in the background starting his Live reporting.
FD signs off and says that if there is anything new they will have it. Chip is the one working the rest of tonight.
MOO.
Fred's Live (summarized above):
Chip's Live that followed:
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CHIP's Live Video from Oct 12, 2019
My summary/observations/opinions:
Interesting that the reporter repeats several times in the beginning that it is a "confirmed kidnapping" and not a custody dispute. He says an 11 year old boy witnessed a man drive up, get out of a dark SUV, pick up KM, put her into the SUV and drive away. The SUV was described as a dark Toyota with a "brown bumper" and that there is damage to the vehicle. He says possibly a Forerunner. (Which we now know turned out to be the wrong model-- it was a Sequoia).
(Since the reporter is describing the kidnapping in front of the taped off area, it seems that is likely where the vehicle drove up and the man grabbed KM. Can anyone add a square representing this taped area to our existing maps? It would be good to see where it is in relation to the camera and where the girls were playing).
He says both parents are on the scene and visibly shaken/upset. He can see KM's dad there. He says the parents had "stepped away for a few moments" when the kidnapping happened. (I don't think that has been reported anywhere else-- later sources made it seem like the parents were not there and that KM was in the care of a relative at the time she was kidnapped. The reporter may be mistaken. MOO).
This video was before the Amber Alert was sent out but the reporter says that they expect an AA soon because of it being a confirmed kidnapping. He says in the beginning of the video that this started about 8:30 PM or about 2 hours ago. So this video is CS reporting from around 10:30 PM to about 11:45 PM on Oct 12.
About 6 minutes in there is a big commotion in the background-- a woman is screaming something unintelligible. The reporter thinks the commotion means she was found. People are yelling something about McDonalds so the reporter asks if she was at McDonalds and which one, if it was the one by the hospital. We can see the Great Grandparents in the background talking to a LEO. A woman pounds her fist in her hand, waves her hand in the air and points-- she is obviously frustrated, but I can't tell what she is yelling or who she is gesturing to.
We see KM's brother standing with some other kids with blankets on their shoulders. The kids smile a bit and play around with each other, then suddenly they start looking sad and serious again. A woman starts yelling "Amber Alert...Amber Alert... No! Amber Alert!" The camera's not focused on the woman yelling so I don't know for sure who it is or who she is yelling at. (My impression is that they thought they found her but it was a false alarm and may have delayed the AA while police checked out the McDonald's tip. Then after that it seems family members were adamant that LE needed to send out the AA right away. MOO).
The reporter then explains that the people in the crowd had been yelling that KM was found at McDonald's but that turned out not to be true. She is still missing. As the reporter is saying this (About 10 minutes in) there is another commotion. The reporter zooms in on a crowd that includes many of KM's family members rushing towards the far side of the taped area and yelling at each other. Police officers break up the argument and separate people. We see KM's mom being pulled away from the crowd by another woman. About 15 minutes in we see KM's brother crying loudly as he is put in the back of a car to be taken from the scene. (Poor kid. It's hard to tell what is going on but it seems to be chaos and arguing within the family. So sad to see. MOO.)
About 32 minutes in a train is heard going by and blaring its horn loudly. (This surprised me. Will have to check a map to see where the train tracks are located).
The reporter comes back on the video around 50 minutes in and says this is officially an Amber Alert now. He repeats that this does not have to do with any custody issue and it is a kidnapping, which is scary. He says he has been on the scene since 10:15 PM to report on the case. LE put up the yellow crime scene tape about 45 minutes ago. He repeats the vehicle info. He says police are searching heavily in the complex and all over the city. He repeats for anyone to call 911 if they have seen KM and says it is almost midnight there. He signs off with about 12 minutes left of video that just shows KM's face and name for the rest of the time.
MOO.
