There was a movie about it and then a TV show. But what happened in Fargo, N.D., on Feb. 11 was not part of any Hollywood script. A policeman was shot and killed, something that hadn’t happened in Fargo in more than 100 years. So you can imagine how an incident like that would rock […]
There was a movie about it and then a TV show. But what happened in Fargo, N.D., on Feb. 11 was not part of any Hollywood script. A policeman was shot and killed, something that hadn’t happened in Fargo in more than 100 years.
So you can imagine how an incident like that would rock a small community, and the TV stations there covering it.
KVLY is the market’s Gray-owned NBC and CBS affiliate. The station is most notable for using the third tallest above-ground structure in the world for broadcasting its signal, rising 2,063 feet high, it’s the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere.
In the weeks following the shooting of Officer Jason Moszer, the station has posted more than 100 stories on its website, everything from the shooting to the funeral to efforts to help support the family of the shooter, who also died in the incident.
Wendy Bernier is KVLY’s brand manager. With so many police involved shootings around the country, she decided to create a spot. And perhaps no one in town could bring the kind of television perspective to the spot that Bernier could; she’s married to a Fargo policeman.
“It was not about our coverage, it was not about our reporters, it was not about our brand,” wrote Bernier.
“I made no mention of coverage or the events of breaking news. I put together what I felt.”
Bernier writes that this is “an example of emotional marketing, original and straight from me.”
As I mentioned, a Facebook page has been set up to help the family of the shooter.
In an extraordinary act of compassion, the police chief of Fargo, Chief David Todd, wrote this message to the community. I feel I should post it in full.
Honoring the memory of Officer Jason Moszer and taking care of his wife Rachel and their family and then taking care of our grief stricken officers has been all-consuming and the entire focus for myself and our department — as it should be and will continue to be.
In our role of protecting and serving our community, I also think of Mrs. Schumacher and her son who desperately called 911 asking for our help and protection from a deranged and dangerous person who was causing them to be in fear of losing their lives. They were the victims we were initially responding to — in order to protect them from a dangerous armed person.
In this week leading up to Officer Jason Moszer’s funeral we will look for ways as a community to pull closer together and look for ways to make something good come out of this senseless act of violence and the resulting tragedy in the loss of Officer Jason Moszer.
I want our community to know that although my focus and the focus of my command staff needs to be on the Moszer family and our officers right now, perhaps this is a time the community can reach out to Mrs. Schumacher and her son and look for ways to help them. In our mission To Protect and Serve, the men and women of the Fargo Police Department would also appreciate seeing that happen.
My faith — and the mission I’ve sworn to uphold — tells me it’s the right thing to do.
Chief David Todd
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