By Sarah Garrecht
The Associated Press
TUCSON Ÿ Local journalists found themselves on the other side of the news Wednesday as the men they were interviewing became the targets of a drive-by shooting.
The two reporters, two photographers and a television cameraman were near the home of 19-year-old Michael Guillen Ÿ who had helped stop the rape of a 13-year-old girl and catch the suspect Ÿ when the shooting started. No one was injured.
A small crowd of neighbors, media and family had gathered to watch their local hero being interviewed when a pickup truck pulled up slowly and someone in the truck fired four shots into the air, according to Norman Peckham, the night crime reporter for the Tucson Citizen and a former Wildcat news reporter.
''I was wrapping up the interview, getting ready to leave. I was about to give back a glass of water Guillen had given me, and I heard Pop! Pop! Pop!,'' Peckham said. ''I thought it was a tire blow out, but there were too many. I looked over and saw the gunshots Ÿ I could actually see the fire coming out.''
A blue Buick followed the truck, and Peckham said he could see the ''gun sticking out the window shooting straight at Guillen and his friend.''
Peckham and everyone except Guillen and his a friend ran for cover. The two men picked up rocks, and threw them at the car, Peckham said.
''I thought if they weren't hit now, the Buick would come back to get them,'' he said.
Peckham said he was scared, but his reporter instincts kicked in.
''It's kind of surreal. We're all there, we're curious about this because it's in our nature, but we're looking and hoping we don't get hit,'' he said. ''I think a photographer even started taking photos, just a gut reaction.''