Security guard with KRON4 dies of injuries

Kevin Nishita, a former police officer, was shot while protecting news crew

OAKLAND >> A security guard who was shot during an attempted robbery while accompanying a KRON-TV Channel 4 news crew has died from injuries, authorities said.

The guard, Kevin Nishita, was a former police officer who had been hired by security company Star Protection Agency to protect a news crew as it reported on a recent crime in downtown Oakland.

Nishita died Saturday morning at Highland Hospital and was taken to the Alameda County Coroner’s Office in a motorcade that included police from San Jose, Hayward and Colma, where he had previously worked as an officer, authorities said. He began his career in law enforcement with the Oakland Housing Authority Police Department.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of former OHA Officer Kevin Nishita; he was a very kind person who sought to make communities not just safer but happier places for everyone,” said Carel Duplessis, the department’s chief, in a statement. “He will be missed by me and all who had the pleasure to know him.”

The KRON4 news crew had been covering a recent robbery of a clothing store on the 300 block of 14th Street in Oakland on Wednesday when an assailant tried to steal the station’s camera equipment.

Nishita was shot during the ensuing attempted robbery, suffering a lower abdomen injury. He succumbed to injuries at 4:39 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Oakland police are investigating the shooting that led to Nishita’s death, and on Saturday morning released a surveillance photo of a vehicle that investigators believe the suspect was driving. The vehicle is a white Acura TL between 2004 and 2008, with no front license plate.

It is the 126th death this year that Oakland police are investigating as a homicide.

Multiple Bay Area law enforcement agencies issued statements