- March 31st, 2015, 9:09 pm
#480621
Twenty years ago today, I came out of the studio at the CBS station in Corpus Christi having just anchored the noon news thinking about which taqueria I was going to hit for lunch. But as I headed for the door, I heard the police scanner report a shooting at a nearby Days Inn. So I grabbed some gear and raced out the door for the 5-minute drive to cheap motel. As I pulled up behind a photographer fromt he NBC affiliate, the ambulance pulled away. As I walked toward the motel before the police tape was pkaced up, an officer turned to me and the other photog and asked us a question: "Do you know who is in that ambulance? It's Selena".
I stopped dead in my tracks. Not many folks back in the day were recognizable by just one name. Madonna. Bono. And in South Texas, Selena was the biggest name of the bunch. It also hit home because it was the first time in the five years or so of covering news that I actually knew the victim. I had done probably a half dozens stories on her including one shot at her final concert in her hometown just a couple months prior. Her dad played for me some pre-release tracks of her singing in English that would go public after her death. We weren't tight, but we were on a first name basis. It really shook me up.
What followed that day is still surreal as I recall the events. There was a standoff with her personal assistant holding a gun to her while sitting in a car not 20-30 feet from where I had parked my news unit. As I shot the video, it didn't take long for a crowd to arrive. She was declared dead at a local hospital within a half hour of her departing the scene. And as news hit the radio, thousands and thousands of fans began arriving at the scene of the standoff. By the time it started getting dark, on the conservative estimate side I would guess there was 10- to 15-thousand fans circling the motel ... while the standoff continued. It was creepy and inspiring at the same time. These folks were hurting badly and were using an active crime scene as a place to come together to share their despair. Many were hoping to see something macabre like a suicide or gunfight. But most just wanted to come cry together and be surrounded by others who were impacted by her.
The networks began calling from New York & Los Angeles asking us to explain who this Mexican-American singer was and why were there vigils being held in cities all across America for someone they had never heard of prior to that day. You have to remember that back in the Mid '90s, there weren't a slew of great Hispanic role models in America. Other than some baseball players and a few actors, she was the obvious choice for most bilingual Hispanics who were coming of age in American society. I honestly believe she would have been a crossover mega-star along the lines of Mariah Carey if not for her untimely death.
The entire city of Corpus Christi walked around in a daze for several days. I viewing was set up by the family at the convention center and over a 100-thousand came through to see her open casket. Those of us who knew her found ourselves being interviewed by the networks back before the glory days of cable news networks. The tabloids managed to pay somebody like $100k for a photo of her open casket in spite of massive security efforts to avoid any pics.
The day of the funeral itself turned into an even more bizarre day. With scores of satellite trucks and networks from practically every country in the Western hemisphere lined up in town, I was happy to be off the Selena beat. As Sports Director at the time, I was alone with one photog while the rest of our staff outside of our meteorologist was out covering the funeral. That's when I heard the police scanner once again. There was shooting at a business near I-37. I grabbed the photographer and drove while he geared up in the passenger seat. As we listened in horror through the scanner, we could hear poilice making their way through the business adding up the body count. A guy distraught over neing fired, came back and shot up his old workplace killing a total of seven and wounding a slew more. All this while the funeral was going on about 5 miles away. As we pulled into the parking lot, the shootout was still underway. While I kept my head down, my photog managed to get up inside the business right as they pulled the gunman out following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So all networks who were already in town had the two biggest stories in America happening in a sleepy town along the Gulf Coast.
The next few months were a blur of court appearances and finally the murder trial. I got to meet and hang out with a slew of network correspondents from not only the English-speaking networks and tabloids (anybody remember A Current Affair & Hard Copy?) but also some of the network folks from Univision, Telemundo, Televisa, Azteca and more.
Mrs. Sly was a huge Selena fan and still in college at UT when the murder occurred before joining our staff in Corpus during the murder trial days. So we both look back with our own memories at what was one of the most iconic cultural moments of our generation.
And yes, I know the biopic produced by her dad was a bit cheesy and to a certain degree campy. But it did manage to launch the career of a young actress name JLo. Then again, maybe that is part of the problem. But we enjoy watching it with our kids thinking back to the jarring day two decades ago.
I stopped dead in my tracks. Not many folks back in the day were recognizable by just one name. Madonna. Bono. And in South Texas, Selena was the biggest name of the bunch. It also hit home because it was the first time in the five years or so of covering news that I actually knew the victim. I had done probably a half dozens stories on her including one shot at her final concert in her hometown just a couple months prior. Her dad played for me some pre-release tracks of her singing in English that would go public after her death. We weren't tight, but we were on a first name basis. It really shook me up.
What followed that day is still surreal as I recall the events. There was a standoff with her personal assistant holding a gun to her while sitting in a car not 20-30 feet from where I had parked my news unit. As I shot the video, it didn't take long for a crowd to arrive. She was declared dead at a local hospital within a half hour of her departing the scene. And as news hit the radio, thousands and thousands of fans began arriving at the scene of the standoff. By the time it started getting dark, on the conservative estimate side I would guess there was 10- to 15-thousand fans circling the motel ... while the standoff continued. It was creepy and inspiring at the same time. These folks were hurting badly and were using an active crime scene as a place to come together to share their despair. Many were hoping to see something macabre like a suicide or gunfight. But most just wanted to come cry together and be surrounded by others who were impacted by her.
The networks began calling from New York & Los Angeles asking us to explain who this Mexican-American singer was and why were there vigils being held in cities all across America for someone they had never heard of prior to that day. You have to remember that back in the Mid '90s, there weren't a slew of great Hispanic role models in America. Other than some baseball players and a few actors, she was the obvious choice for most bilingual Hispanics who were coming of age in American society. I honestly believe she would have been a crossover mega-star along the lines of Mariah Carey if not for her untimely death.
The entire city of Corpus Christi walked around in a daze for several days. I viewing was set up by the family at the convention center and over a 100-thousand came through to see her open casket. Those of us who knew her found ourselves being interviewed by the networks back before the glory days of cable news networks. The tabloids managed to pay somebody like $100k for a photo of her open casket in spite of massive security efforts to avoid any pics.
The day of the funeral itself turned into an even more bizarre day. With scores of satellite trucks and networks from practically every country in the Western hemisphere lined up in town, I was happy to be off the Selena beat. As Sports Director at the time, I was alone with one photog while the rest of our staff outside of our meteorologist was out covering the funeral. That's when I heard the police scanner once again. There was shooting at a business near I-37. I grabbed the photographer and drove while he geared up in the passenger seat. As we listened in horror through the scanner, we could hear poilice making their way through the business adding up the body count. A guy distraught over neing fired, came back and shot up his old workplace killing a total of seven and wounding a slew more. All this while the funeral was going on about 5 miles away. As we pulled into the parking lot, the shootout was still underway. While I kept my head down, my photog managed to get up inside the business right as they pulled the gunman out following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So all networks who were already in town had the two biggest stories in America happening in a sleepy town along the Gulf Coast.
The next few months were a blur of court appearances and finally the murder trial. I got to meet and hang out with a slew of network correspondents from not only the English-speaking networks and tabloids (anybody remember A Current Affair & Hard Copy?) but also some of the network folks from Univision, Telemundo, Televisa, Azteca and more.
Mrs. Sly was a huge Selena fan and still in college at UT when the murder occurred before joining our staff in Corpus during the murder trial days. So we both look back with our own memories at what was one of the most iconic cultural moments of our generation.
And yes, I know the biopic produced by her dad was a bit cheesy and to a certain degree campy. But it did manage to launch the career of a young actress name JLo. Then again, maybe that is part of the problem. But we enjoy watching it with our kids thinking back to the jarring day two decades ago.
- By Purple Haize
- By rtb72
- By LU Armchair coach