Jodon F. Romero

Jodon F. Romero (d. September 28, 2012) was an American criminal in Phoenix, Arizona, who committed suicide following a police pursuit, which was accidentally broadcast live on Fox News Channel.

Early life
Information released by Phoenix law enforcement has showed that Romero had a history of run-ins with the law, involving "numerous violent crimes." At the time of his death, he was wanted for violating his parole on a weapons charge.

Events leading to suicide
On September 28, 2012, Romero stole a Dodge Caliber sedan at gunpoint in a South Phoenix parking lot. Patrol officers from the Phoenix Police Department spotted the vehicle and gave chase, but pulled back when Romero began running red lights and endangering other motorists. Romero later entered an industrial park and, upon seeing two police cruisers, fired upon them. The officers inside the units were unharmed, though one of the vehicles was hit. He also fired upon the police helicopter, but missed. A news chopper from KSAZ-TV, Phoenix's local Fox network affiliate, joined the pursuit as Romero was speeding west along Interstate 10 at speeds of 100mph. Fox News Channel &mdash; which, like KSAZ, is a subsidiary of News Corporation &mdash; used the station's feed for its own coverage of the chase, which aired during the daytime program Studio B with Shepard Smith.

Seventy-five miles outside of Phoenix, Romero pulled off the interstate and drove into the desert. He stopped and abandoned the stolen Caliber, anxiously walking alongside a nearby dirt road. It was at this time that police officers fired at Romero. While the Fox News footage shows Romero falling down and clutching his abdomen, a statement by the police made the following day stated the officers had missed. It was at this point that Romero stopped, put a handgun to his head, and pulled the trigger. He was declared dead at the scene.

Broadcast
KSAZ stopped its coverage the moment Romero left the Caliber, but Fox News continued showing the station's feed on a five-second delay. Viral videos of the Fox News broadcast show anchor Shepard Smith repeatedly telling production staff to "get off" the feed as Romero pulls out his gun and, eventually, shoots himself in the head. After Romero's suicide, the broadcast cut to a visibly-stunned Smith in Fox News' studio. After a commercial break, Smith addressed viewers and offered an apology:

"Well, I’ve got some 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 10 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 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, and 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 with what happened with that guy and how that went down tonight on the Fox Report. I’m sorry."

Fox News vice president Michael Clemente delivered a statement on the incident, saying that Fox News "took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five second delay. Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen." An unidentified sources claimed that Studio B's producer failed to get off the feed in time, allowing the suicide to make it to air.