Oakland news station KTVU came under fire for showing a photo of BART stabbing victim Nia Wilson holding a phone case to her ear that looked like a gun. The station was bashed online after many accused them of depicting Wilson as a troublemaker following her death, much like photos the media shared of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.
D.L. Hughley criticized the station, writing on Instagram, "KTVU 2 is a FOX station! Why did they choose this pic? The most dangerous place for black ppl is in white ppls imagination!"
KTVU anchor Frank Somerville responded to the criticism on Facebook, writing, "We NEVER should have used that picture. It was a huge mistake on our part. We realized it instantly. And that picture will NEVER appear on our air again. We had a lot of pictures to choose from and unfortunately that was one of the ones we used. Again there was no excuse for that. And my belief is that when you make a mistake you own up to it. And that was our mistake. A big mistake,” Somerville wrote. “Nia was a beautiful young girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. From me, and all of us at KTVU, I can’t say enough how sorry we are."
