The KNBC David Horowitz Incident

FROM THE NOW GONE NBC BURBANK STUDIOS - Say the name David Horowitz to almost anybody who grew up in Southern California and the reply is often, "Oh, remember that when he was held up on Channel 4?"

Here is probably the most infamous, bizarre moment in Los Angeles television history when on 4:42 p.m. on August 20, 1987, a mentally disturbed man walked onto the KNBC-TV news set in Burbank during a live broadcast, held a gun to the back of Fight Back consumer reporter David Horowitz and ordered him to read a rambling statement.


The audio on this is not all that great, but here is a KNBC news report later that day on what happened on their news set.

The gunman was Gary Stollman, who was the son of former KNBC pharmacist reporter Max Stollman. Max Stollman had recently left KNBC some months earlier.

The four-page letter the gunman demanded Mr. Horowitz read began with, "The man who has appeared on KNBC for the last three years is not my biological father. "He is a clone, a double created by the Central Intelligence Agency and alien forces." It was at that point KNBC News Director Tom Capra ordered the station off-the-air.

When KNBC went off-the-air Stollman noticed the brightly colored "One Moment Please" card on one of the television monitors, and the anchors, John Beard and Kirstie Wilde, along with the camera operators and floor director, had to convince Stollman that KNBC was really on-the-air. The deception seemed to work.

During the ordeal it is amazing to watch Mr. Horowitz appear, well, acting completely relaxed and carrying on like a regular interviewer, despite the fact he had a gun to his back.

Looks can always be a bit deceiving as Mr. Horowitz told the Los Angeles Times in 1987, "The guy came up and put a gun in my back [and] my first reaction was, 'I can't believe this is happening.' "His first words to me were, 'Read this or I'll shoot you!' "People later told me how calm I looked, but believe me, I wasn't!"

"I kept thinking of my wife and kids," Mr. Horowitz said to the Times. "I didn't know if the guy was a terrorist or a whacko or somebody trying to get even for something. "My fear was that if any police came into the studio, and there was a marksman there and he fired at this guy, I might be caught in the cross-fire or this guy might pop a shot off and get me through the back of the head or whatever because I was not aware of the fact that this guy had a toy gun."

With a gun pointed to his back Mr. Horowitz told United Press International in 1987, "who the hell was going to rescue me?"

At the end of the saga when it is reveal the weapon was no more than an unloaded pellet gun Mr. Horowitz shrugs his shoulders and gives something that could be best described as a, "you've got to be freaking kidding me!" look as Stollman was thanking him for reading his statement that lasted seven minutes.

Just as Stollman put the toy gun down on the news desk co-anchor Mr. Beard quickly grabbed the fake weapon and Burbank Police rushed onto the set and promptly arrested Stollman.

Mr. Beard later told reporters he had never felt his heart beat as fast as he did that afternoon. Most disturbingly to Mr. Beard was, "if he (Mr. Horowitz) is shot how am I going to explain to people at home what just happened."

On a site called SkepticFiles.org Stollman has a rambling manifesto written in 1991 titled, The Invasion of the Human Race.

There, Stollman says in part,

I never planned out my life to wind up on the set of KNBC in Los Angeles LIVE, standing behind TV consumer advocate David Horowitz holding a toy gun to his head, demanding that he read a statement about how space aliens and the CIA had replaced my father and family with clones. I had only planned on becoming a computer programmer and a good citizen. At least that was before I discovered I had somehow stumbled onto a vast plot to overthrow the human race.

So just how did Stollman get past security? Ms. Wilde, co-anchor with Mr. Beard during the incident, told the Times Mr. Stollman simply exploited his father's former position with KNBC.

Ms. Wilde told the Times, "He scoped the studio out before. "He came last Thursday and called me to get in. "He said he was Max Stollman's son and he lives in the East and he never had the opportunity to see his dad while he was on our air and could he come down and watch. "I felt kind of bad because Max's contract was terminated and he hadn't had a chance to see him, so I said come on down."

The impression left on Mr. Wilde prior to the incident was Stollman, "seemed a little unstable, or maybe not very bright."

Since the incident Stollman has been in and out of mental facilities and continues to post conspiracy thoughts on message boards, as noted above.

After the incident Mr. Horowitz launched a state and later national campaign to outlaw toy guns that look a little too much like the real thing.

Mr. Horowitz remained with KNBC until August 1992 when management declined to renew his contract. Many in the industry believe his 20-plus years at the NBC owned-and-operated station came to a sudden end because funds were needed to pay Paul Moyer's unprecedented $8 million contract. Mr. Moyer had come to KNBC from KABC-TV in August 1992. In August and into fall of 1992, in addition to Mr. Horowitz, a few on-air and many behind the scenes employees were also let go from KNBC.

During his time at KNBC, aside from being a consumer advocate and hosting his famed Fight Back program, Mr. Horowitz was the first television reporter on-the-air following the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. During that event he was broadcasting sitting on a stool in a darken parking lot. Later joining him during that early morning coverage was fellow KNBC reporter Tom Brokaw.

For a time David Horowitz returned to television in 1994-95 on KCBS-TV, joining Jerry Dunphy and Dr. George Fischbeck.


Today Mr. Horowitz is still fighting back for you by way of FightBack.com. Photograph used under a Creative Commons license.

Timely enough just a short time later on October 1, 1987, KNBC would once again be in the national spotlight for another bizarre on-air incident, and this time with David Letterman making fun of the incident, when Kent Shocknek and Christopher Nance went under the news desk for an extended period of time during an aftershock of the Whittier Narrows Earthquake. Mr. Shocknek, who retired from KCBS/KCAL-TV in 2014, has said many times over there was a genuine threat with heavy studio lights swinging precariously overhead. Nonetheless this incident created an awkward moment and is, much to Mr. Shocknek's dismay, perhaps the second most unusual event in local television that is highly remembered.

(Editor's Note: This story has been updated and reedited, but originally appeared in the now defunct Southern California News Wire in 2010, and it seems parts of this story has been plagiarized in some places around the Internet. So goes life on the Internet.)

The JFK Assassination and The Southern California Connections

DOWNTOWN L.A. at 12th AND GRAND - It has been over 50 years since the shocking and sickening assassination of President John F. Kennedy one November afternoon on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas. Of course that assassination still remains of great interest to many people, from conspiracy types, which has spawned its own industry with many books, films and videos, among other projects, to viewing that event in light of recent problems facing The Secret Service.


Then presidential hopeful Kennedy arriving at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena for the 1960 Democratic Convention. July 13, 1960. Public Domain photograph.

Like any major event in the United States, or the World, there always seems to be some kind of Southern California connection, and with the JFK assassination there is indeed a Southern California connection.

In fact, there are two Southern California connections surrounding the assassination of The 35th President of the United States.

In Orange County

Probably the better known connection is that the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, who, on October 24, 1956, enlisted in the Marine Corps, lived in Orange County for about a year.

Mr. Oswald was apart of Air Control Squadron Nine at the Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana, which is actually in Tustin.

According to military records by way of The Warren Commission Report, Mr. Oswald arrived in Orange County in late 1958 after serving a tour of duty in Japan. 

It was only about a year that Mr. Oswald lived in Orange County, and, according to records, Mr. Oswald claimed that he needed to leave the Corps in late 1959 to take care of his mother and asked for a Dependency Discharge. The claim to take care of his mother soon turned out to be false as about a year later Mr. Oswald was living in the Soviet Union, without his mother.

During his time at the Air Facility in Tustin it was discovered Mr. Oswald kept communist literature in his locker, including several copies of The Daily Worker. Much of this was discovered during a surprise inspection, according to Mr. Oswald's former Caption, Robert Block.

Mr. Block said during his time in Tustin that Mr. Oswald's left-leaning tendencies bordered on the near-comic, according to a 1993 Los Angeles Times interview.

At the time the Marines were learning all about communism and, according to Mr. Block, the communist items found in Mr. Oswald's locker were not considered to be all that unusual, and was likely brushed off as no more than Mr. Oswald brushing up on his studies.

Mr. Block, who left the Marines in 1966 with a Honorable Discharge and went on to own an insurance agency in Garden Grove, says, basically, Mr. Oswald did not stand out one way or the other under his command.
 
Much has been said of Mr. Oswald's Marine training, which may have given him an advantage in allegedly gunning down Mr. Kennedy.

Mr. Block does not believe Mr. Oswald's Marine training would have been enough to have killed the President in the way it was carried out, unless the assassin had additional training.

As Mr. Block told Dana Parsons of the L.A. Times in 1993, "You've got a moving target there, and when you're talking about hitting somebody in the head from that distance and that angle, it just boggles my mind that he would even have that capability. I don't know where he could have practiced, whether in the woods or remote areas or in Russia, but you've got to come up with some pretty good marksmanship to carry off something like that."

Evidence and investigation by The Warren Commission shows that Mr. Oswald was able to kill Mr. Kennedy in the matter that it was carried out. While it may have been an advantage there has never been a direct connection that Mr. Oswald's military training gave him an advantage in killing the President. Furthermore, the Report shows Mr. Oswald did not receive any kind of training, military or otherwise, while in Soviet Russia.

Aside from being stationed in Tustin not much is known about Mr. Oswald's time in Orange County. All evidence shows that Mr. Oswald pretty much kept to himself and did not engage in much activity outside the Air Station, and it appears he never even visited Disneyland. If Mr. Oswald's left-leaning beliefs are to be believed he would have found much of Orange County to be hostile to him as much of The Orange Curtain at this time was a hotbed of activity for The John Birch Society (not unlike parts of Dallas).

Perhaps most importantly, there has never been any evidence to suggest Mr. Oswald was involved in any sort of conspiracy with any person or group in Orange County or elsewhere in Southern California. In fact, after the assassination of Mr. Kennedy five federal investigations showed Mr. Oswald acted alone and was not involved in any sort of conspiracy with another person, group or government.

Downtown Los Angeles

There is a second Southern California connection to events related to the assassination, and it involves Downtown L.A.

Sometimes forgotten by history in the whole chaos of events on November 22 was another death allegedly at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooting death of Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit.

After allegedly shooting at the presidential motorcade Mr. Oswald had gone back to his home in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, and it is believed while there he retrieved a Smith and Wesson .38 Special caliber revolver.

Mr. Tippit, after the Mr. Kennedy's assassination, received several police radio messages describing the suspect in the assassination. Officer Tippit was driving slowly past the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue, and that is where he pulled alongside a man who resembled the police description of the man seen firing shots at the presidential motorcade. 

According to the Warren Commission the man, identified was Mr. Oswald, walked over to Tippit's car and exchanged words with him through an open vent window. 

Mr. Tippit then opened his car door and as he walked toward the front of the car Mr. Oswald drew the .38 Special and fired three shots in rapid succession, and all three bullets hit Tippit in the chest. Mr. Oswald then walked up to Tippit's fallen body and fired a fourth shot directly into his right temple, fatally wounding him. Mr. Tippit died before any help could arrive, according to The Warren Commission.

Mr. Oswald shortly after went into the nearby Texas Theater without buying a ticket. A person working at the Texas Theater noticed this person "acting suspiciously" and was a bit concerned that he did not buy a ticket, and so the movie theater employee called the police.

When Dallas Police arrived, according to The Warren Commission, the lights in theater were turned up, and Mr. Oswald seemed ready to give up when he shouted, "Well, it is all over now!" Yet, according to Dallas Police Officer Nick McDonald, it was not quite over yet as Mr. Oswald pulled out a pistol tucked into the front of his pants, then pointed the pistol at Mr. McDonald, and pulled the trigger, but the pistol did not fire because the pistol's hammer came down on the webbing between the thumb and index finger of Mr. McDonald's hand when he grabbed the gun from Mr. Oswald. Then after a scuffle Mr. Oswald was arrested.

So, what does all this have to do with Downtown L.A.?

Well, turns out the Smith and Wesson .38 that killed Officer Tippit was bought in Downtown L.A., at 1221 s. Grand Avenue to be precise.

No, Mr. Oswald did not buy the weapon while he was living in Orange County, but rather he bought the gun by mail.

George Rose and Co. of L.A. was a major distributor of that type of gun. The Mail order division of George Rose and Co. was called, Seaport Traders, Inc., which is where Mr. Oswald sent in the order for the gun.

On January 3, 1963, Seaport Traders received a shipment of 99 guns in one case, according to The Warren Commission, from Empire Wholesale Sporting Goods, Ltd. in Montreal, and in that shipment was the Smith and Wesson .38 confirmed by investigators as the gun used to kill Officer Tippit.

Towards the end of January of that year Seaport Traders received through the mail a mail-order coupon and cash for a, ".38 St. W. 2'' Bbl.," and was signed in ink by, "A.J. Hidell, age 28," according to the Warren Commission. There was also a signature by "D.F. Drittal" attesting to the fact that the person ordering this gun from Downtown L.A. is a U.S. citizen and has never been convicted of a felony.

It was soon revealed the writing on the coupon was that of Mr. Oswald, and, to no real surprise, the writing of the person claiming "Mr. Hidell" was criminally and mentally clear to buy a gun was that also of Mr. Oswald, according to the Warren Commission. This was confirmed by the work of Dallas Police, the FBI and Secret Service, and Mr. Oswald's Russian born wife Marina, who confirmed to authorities the writing on the mail-order form to Downtown L.A. was that of her husband.

"A.J. Hidell" was an alias used by Mr. Oswald during his time in Dallas and New Orleans. This name was used by Mr. Oswald to rent a Post Office box at a Dallas Post Office, which is where the weapon from Downtown L.A. was sent. 

Owners and employees associated with George Rose and Co. and Seaport Traders, Inc. were never charged with any crime, as there was no crime to be charged with. Further investigation showed those in Downtown L.A. had no clue that one of their items played a part on that dark day in American history until they were visited by authorities.

The Overwhelming Evidence Against Oswald

Even though five federal investigations show and proved Lee Harvey Oswald was solely behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy with overwhelming evidence the actions of Jack Ruby forever prevented Mr. Oswald from having his day in court, and thus he was never convicted, or acquitted, of the murders of Mr. Kennedy or Officer J.D. Tippit (also why in this piece Mr. Oswald at times is referred to as the alleged murderer of Mr. Kennedy).

The weight of evidence from the five federal investigations of the murder of John F. Kennedy shows that Mr. Oswald acted alone, and no person or group from the U.S. government, Soviet Union and Cuba, nor Jack Ruby or any other group or person that may not have been a big fan of JFK, was ever involved at any time in the president's murder.

While much has been made about Mr. Oswald and conspiracies galore, if you have not yet read it then it is strongly recommended you read The Warren Commission Report. Yes, it is not exactly a quick afternoon read, but after reading it most people from the layman to any first year law student could see the overwhelming evidence shows Mr. Oswald committed the murders of John F. Kennedy and J.D. Tippit, and acted alone.

In Tustin Today

As for the Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana, well, by 1979 the name was changed to better reflect their location, Marine Corps Air Station Tustin. At the end of The Cold War came many military base closures around the country, and, with the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990, it was announced that the Tustin air station would be among those closed.

The full base closure came in July 1999, and since then much successful high-end suburban development has occurred in and around the defunct military base, which includes businesses like Whole Foods.

The old Marine air base is also home to the Orange County Sheriff's Department Academy.

In the last year there has been talk by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball owner Arte Moreno of building a new stadium at the old base and moving the ball team to Tustin once the current lease in Anaheim expires. Los Angeles Angels of Tustin?

L.A. Is Where JFK's Official Journey to The White House Began

At the risk of stretching this piece thin it is worth noting that the 1960 Democratic National Convention was held at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena, and that is where Mr. Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.


The 1960 Democratic Convention at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena., July 1960. Public Domain photograph.

Come Election Day Mr. Kennedy's Republican competitor was Vice President Richard Nixon, who, after voting in Whittier, was suppose to go over to the Ambassador Hotel to watch the elections results, and hopefully give a victory speech, but instead made a trip to Tijuana.

A Note on The President's Brother

In 1968 at The Ambassador Hotel the president's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated. In the aftermath of the death of RFK investigations found no links between the assassinations.

A Footnote To One of America's Darkest Days

In the end, at best Southern California's role in that whole tragedy that November day are mere, almost irrelevant footnotes of a bigger event, and, subsequently, it appears Mr. Oswald's time in Orange County did not really influence decisions he would make a few years later as, going back to his high school days in New York, he already showed signs of being a troubled man.

Confessions: Secrets of The Local Newsroom

LOS ANGELES - So you are watching the news, or maybe have it on as background noise, and suddenly you hear that jarring end of the World breaking news jingle and a for a few seconds your full attention is to the television, or radio. Other times, and less dramatically, you will hear the anchor say, "This just coming into the newsroom." Well, have you ever wondered just how Southern California newsrooms hear and learn about most of the news that they report to you?

Whether you watch channel 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 22, 34, 52 or 62, listen to 1070 AM or 89.3 FM, or read certain articles in local newspapers, here is a secret as to where local Southern California newsrooms obtains most of its news leads.

While our local news organizations have a lot of original reporting what a lot of readers and viewers probably do not know is our newsrooms receive most of their news leads from two sources, City News Service and Metro Networks.

City News Service is the better known of the two and in local media circles is known as CNS (this CNS is not to be confused with a separate website called CNSNews as the two are not related).

Here is how most local news gets to the newsroom. It starts with CNS sending out what amounts these days to be a glorified instant message to the newsroom that, for example, a fire is burning a commercial building at 3333 Magnolia Avenue in Burbank, or a major court verdict is about to be announced, or a bomb threat has been reported at L.A. City Hall.

A lot of times breaking news or developing news comes into CNS by scanner, and often when they send the first report to the newsroom it is accompanied by the words atop of the report, "NOT FOR PUBLICATION, BROADCAST OR DISTRIBUTION."

Often these are the first scanner reports CNS passes to the newsroom. At that point what is suppose to happen despite CNS' bold statement not to broadcast it, provided the newsroom has not been gutted in the name of budget cuts, is the person at the news desk, which could be the producer or editor (sometimes even the intern), calls the proper agency, like Los Angeles Police for example, and confirm the report, and if it is confirmed to try to get some more information, and sometimes, depending on the media outlet, get the official on-the-air right away. Ideally CNS is suppose to quickly send a follow-up either confirming the incident is true with more information, and that it is allowed for distribution, or that it is nothing, and maybe even a false call.

Of course if you are an on the ball producer/editor, or an intern showing great initiative, you call the LAPD Watch Commander thinking you have a great lead for the 4 o'clock news and urgently inquire about the information CNS just sent only to be told by the LAPD Watch Commander that they have no idea what you are talking about. You read verbatim to the officer what CNS sent you, and you hear the Watch Commander clicking through the computer, and still the Watch Commander has no idea what you are going on about. You say, "Thank you" to the Watch Commander, and hang up. You feel annoyed, but in keeping your cool you telephone CNS and let them know nothing is up. Then amid the normal chaos in the newsroom you discover CNS sends out a correction that made you look foolish with the LAPD Watch Commander, and you note it only took CNS a hour to send the correction.

This is one way developing and breaking news is sent to the newsroom. Other times throughout the day CNS will send information that other local news organizations are reporting.

Aside from breaking news events there are planned events throughout the week in Southern California that are often covered by local media.

Ever wonder how local newsrooms know when certain events are happening, like what day somebody will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or what day the LAPD will honor certain officers, or when Metrolink holds a rail safety campaign, or when a high school holds a special event? Well, CNS sends what is called "The Budget" to the newsrooms. Despite the name "The Budget" has absolutely nothing to do with money, but its an old newspaper saying as "budget" means the budgeting or allocation of space in a newspaper. The CNS budget gives leads to local newsrooms, and in these budget leads are contact numbers for the reporter or producer.

For example, here is a typical CNS budget (The following events, names and telephone numbers in this example are completely fictitious):

ORANGE COUNTY BUDGET FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 12
By City News Service

8:30 a.m. ANAHEIM - Anaheim High School students to be honored by Anaheim Police, and the state's department of education. 123 w. Lincoln Ave. Contact: Jim Jimbo, Anaheim High School Affairs Program, (714) 555-5555; Bob Smith, Anaheim PD PIO, (714) 555-5555.

9 a.m. FULLERTON - Jury verdict is expected in the trial of Bobby Robert, who is accused of fatally shooting a man during a birthday party in Anaheim. Dept. C34, Central Justice Center, 700 W. Civic Center Drive. Contact: (714) 555-5555.

In addition to providing breaking news and leads CNS provides full stories much like the Associated Press and Reuters. Some newspapers and broadcast news websites put the full CNS story on their website with full credit to the wire service. Other times certain media outlets take some liberties with the full CNS story adding or deleting paragraphs and giving no credit to CNS.


Old AP teletype machine; date unknown. Along with AP and Reuters before they moved to computers to send news CNS also used the teletype machine. Shown for historic and educational purposes; no copyright infringement intended.

Now CNS is nothing new as it has been apart of the local newsroom landscape for many decades, and CNS for a very long time was the equivalent of Twitter news feeds for many newsrooms.

Many Twitter feeds of police, fire departments and other officials, along with reader's and viewer's Twitter feeds, in addition to local blogs and micro-local blogs, have made news gathering maybe a little less reliant on CNS. However CNS is still, and will be for sometime, the dominate local news wire and news sharing service. 

On that note, CNS has been sharing and reporting news reported on certain blogs in recent times.

A service like CNS is nothing unique to Southern California as other major markets, like New York and San Francisco, have similar news sharing services like CNS. 

Now you know a little bit how news gets to the newsroom.