Its a Red Ball, Bunk.

If you are into spot news, crime reporting or anything resembling homicide investigations, go find David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" as he follows around a squad of Baltimore Homicide detectives around for an entire year. (Yes, The same David Simon that did "The Wire" and "Generation Kill")

I only mention this because we've got a major red ball going in town. For the casual reader, a "Red ball" is a major case where you drop everything in a effort to solve the case/find the bad guy. Something with major media attention.


News broke Friday morning that George Zinkhan's jeep was found in a ravine not far from his house. So if its a red ball for the cops, its a red ball for us. I've never seen that many Law Enforcement officers armed that heavily before. U.S. Marshal's service, F.B.I, G.B.I, GSP SWAT and ACCPD's SRT. The tract of land where it was found can be Googled here. Its a large tract of land that was naturally closed off to photojournalists like myself.

So covering this was myself and another staffer. Our office ran a shuttle for cards earlier in the day. The hardest/biggest thing about spot news is calming yourself down, focusing and making good story-telling images. Looking back, some lack some context.


From there it was like a mental shot checklist. Jeep? Yup.



Guys in pickups armed for bear? Yup.



Convoy of cars? Yup.




GSP roadblock? Check.



Helicopter? Check.



Scene setter? Ehhh.... little fuzzy and from about a mile away but yeah, just run it small.



Constant stream of onlookers? Shoulda thought of that one. Something to think about next time.

Presser? I've had these conversations at a former paper before. Something to the effect of "you want me to leave a crime scene to go photograph someone with a microphone in their face?"

So after awhile it gets mundane. You can either stay at the main entrance/exit and get those shots over and over or you can become enterprising and start driving around and searching for any photo that your competition doesn't have. Once you've CYA'd, you just cant sit there especially when it seems that the search has become fruitless. You get a feel for what's going on and rumors run rampent through a crime scene. Plus its common sense - you're not going to see 17 car loads of SWAT team members go into a scene where the suspect is deceased; You're going to see forensics, CSI and coroner type people. So i went and drove around until i found a pickup truck full of FBI people and photographed them going through a neighborhood or two from a safe and respectful distance.






And then a resident appeared.



You don't want to be overly aggressive because you can't do your job from jail. So bring the 400/2.8 and the teleconverter and stay back on the public easement and give them their space. Respect them, be professional and they will respect you. They probably will mess with you some but thats the nature of cops sometimes and really, some levity to break the moment isn't a bad thing.

Other good lessons? Crime scene food/water. Stash it in the trunk. You don't want to be off getting food when everything goes down. Sunscreen. Bug Spray. Comfy and appropriate shoes. (IE flip-flops are a very bad idea to be traipsing around a crime scene in) ANSI-Approved Highway vest (for standing on that easement next to the road). And bring your manners. Be professional. Be tactful of those not in the press that might be around you.

Triple Murder

University of Georgia SWAT team members ride in the back of a pickup truck as they search for Professor George Zinkhan after he allegedly shot and killed three people at a community theater picnic on Saturday April 25, 2009 in Athens, Ga.

I get a call around 2 PM asking if i could flip on the scanner. Our desk editor and a stringer were at the scene of a triple murder. Moments later, a friend calls me asking I listen while i got dressed before heading in. Ended up chasing SWAT teams all over downtown before heading back to the scene, which is how i got the long shot of the UGA SWAT teams in the back of the pickup. Walking back to the office, i saw the ACCPD SWAT guys searching a local law office.

Confusion reigned as the fog of breaking news made for lots of wild things being said all around. As for the story, I will point towards our news coverage for that. We did the best with the (few) resources we have. I'm proud of the coverage we had.



Athens Clarke-County Coroner Sonny WIlson, center, looks over the scene with crime scene investigators as they overlook the scene where three people were killed three people at a community theater picnic on Saturday April 25, 2009 in Athens, Ga.



Athens Clarke-County Police enter the Law Offices of J. Henry Hue as they search for Professor George Zinkhan after he allegedly shot and killed three people at a community theater picnic on Saturday April 25, 2009 in Athens, Ga.



Athens Clarke-County Coroner Sonny Wilson wipes his forehead after walking away from the scene where three people were killed three people at a community theater picnic on Saturday April 25, 2009 in Athens, Ga.



University of Georgia SWAT team members surround Brooks Hall as they search for Professor George Zinkhan after he allegedly shot and killed three people at a community theater picnic on Saturday April 25, 2009 in Athens, Ga.


Here's what our page looked like.