Foreign TV Crew Robbed While Reporting In San Francisco

A foreign television news crew covering the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco is heading home with less equipment than they arrived with, thanks to some do-no-gooders who robbed the crew while they worked.

The journalists were from a Czech Republic public television who were in the Bay Area on assignment were robbed of some of their equipment on Sunday evening while recording a segment near the famous City Lights bookstore, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's reporting.

The San Francisco Police Department has confirmed that it is investigating an armed robbery of a production team around 4:56pm in the area of Broadway and Columbus Avenue.

According to the officers, a vehicle stopped on the street, and three men armed with firearms exited the car and approached the group. The suspects demanded their production equipment, and the victims gave it to them.

The suspects returned to their vehicle and fled, according to police.

While the police department didn't confirm that the victims were journalists, reporter Bohumil Vostal from Czech television station ČT24 said he was one of the victims.

"Thank you very much for the support we received in ČT news. We'll keep shooting. We are here for the US President's summit with the Chinese leader. And we'll be there (as always) for CT," Vostal wrote in Crech on X.

According to KTVU, Bay Area television stations will often times send armed guards with reporters to keep them and the equipment protected while they cover local news stories.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco has drawn world leaders, CEOs, and journalists from around the globe, with an estimated 20,000 people in attendance.

President Joe Biden and China's president, Xi Jinping, are expected to meet for the first time in over a year.