A Camera Crew was filming an AwesomenessTV as Reality Show production dubbed "This is Summer," when it happened. They were packing up their equipment after a filming session when two robbers attacked them, putting guns to their heads. $50,000 worth of film equipment and their personal items were stolen.

Film crew wraps for the day, gets robbed

Chris Burns, 37, was working as the director of photography for the reality show, which follows the lives of eight 17-year-olds living in the Bay Area. He said in a statement Wednesday that the robbery was "really scary," and was, in fact, the most terrifying Robbery he had ever experienced.

As reported by the New York Post, the incident happened at around 10:15 p.m. on Monday in the parking lot next to a pizza restaurant. The crew was just wrapping up for the day, placing their equipment in the truck, when they were approached by two robbers with guns drawn. Reportedly no security officers were present at the time.

Film crew forced to lie on the ground at gun point

He said the robbers threw him up against a wall and then he and other members of the film crew were told to lie on the pavement, with the two robbers pointing guns at their heads and threatening to kill them.

The other three members of the crew were women. Burns pleaded with the robbers not to hurt them, telling them to take whatever they wanted.

The robbers left the scene with several video cameras and lenses, along with chargers, monitors, carrying cases and batteries that they took from the truck. They also took a laptop and cellphone belonging to one of the women members of the film crew.

According to Burns, the robbers were "very systematic," and he believed they had been watching the film crew prior to the attack.

Oakland police responded to the scene and searched the surrounding area, but found no trace of the robbery suspects.

While Burns, who lives in the area, says Oakland is a great location for filming, the incident has caused officials at AwesomenessTV to decide they will not use the city again as a location. They also said wherever they film in future, they will ensure there is either armed private security or a police presence around.

Burns did say they had filmed parts of the show in Oakland before and had experienced no real problems, although he is aware of film and television crews being robbed in Oakland as well as other cities before. Burns said, however, they didn't believe they would have a problem as they mainly shoot during the day when large groups of people are around. Burns said this was the only time they chose to shoot at night.

Burns went on to say he personally would use Oakland as a location again, but only with proper security on hand. He added that he feels bad about the negative publicity Oakland will receive over the incident but wants people to be aware of what happened to them.

As reported by the East Bay times, there is a $15,000 reward up for grabs from the Oakland police for any information that could lead them to the robbery suspects.
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