Former CNN correspondent, anchor survive motel gunfight

KOAT ^ | 07/01/15 | Laura Thoren

[Enlightened1]

Former CNN anchor and Manzano High School graduate Lynne Russell told Action 7 News she and her husband Chuck de Caro were robbed at gunpoint around 11:30 p.m. at the Motel 6 near Coors and Iliff.

De Caro worked as a correspondent for CNN.

Russell said they were exhausted Tuesday night and decided to go to a motel to rest. She had gone to the car to get something when a man put a gun to her head, dragged her back into the motel room and demanded her valuables.

"The man pushed me inside, I was airborne, literally. And (I) landed on the bed, and that was about the time that Chuck came out of the shower," Russell said. "The man was just wild. He was pointing the gun, and the way that he was acting, it was as if he'd done it before."

Russell said she and her husband legally carry handguns, and they had them in the motel room.

For a moment, she said, it looked like the thief just wanted her husband's briefcase.

"He came over, grabbed the briefcase, and I thought for a moment he was just going to leave because he had something," Russell said. "Then he turned around and he opened fire. My husband returned fire. And he's a better shot."

According to police, both men fired multiple rounds.

Russell said her husband was hit three times. He underwent surgery at University of New Mexico Hospital and is expected to be there for a few days while he recovers.

Officers found the other man in the parking lot. He died at the scene.

[databoss]

I’m with you on this...something seems fishy here...

[Lazamataz]

His wife is hot.

[pfflier]

She was and maybe still is, a deputy sherriff in the Atlanta area, has a martial arts belt and is a licensed private investigator.

She did all this while working at CNN.

Maybe that is why she lost her job rather than her being the hypocrite you accuse her of being.

[gaijin]

Two successful people were all armed up at a cheap hotel?

That sounds vaguely like a drug deal gone bad.

[Buckeye McFrog]

If Teddy Turner had it in for Stewart Varney, must have REALLY hated Lynn.

[Oatka]

"Then he turned around and he opened fire. My husband returned fire. And he's a better shot."

Nice succinct reporting.

[Enlightened1]

I think so?

Yeah she is alright.

[pfflier]

If I recall the sequence of events, her bio was featured in Parade magazine talking about her CCW permit among other things.

Interestingly, her wiki bio contains this

"In 1989, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, she combined her connections to the military and to her colleagues by pinning the coveted Air Assault badge on CNN’s first Special Assignments Correspondent, friend, and now-husband, Chuck de Caro, upon his graduation from the US Army Air Assault School."

[Lazamataz]

He’s 60, she’s 68.

If it’s drugs, it’s Geritol.

[epow]

We never stay on the first floor, with our room opening directly to the parking lot.

Excellent advice. I traveled a lot during my working days and stayed in a great many motels and hotels, and that was a rule I adopted after an experience in a Holiday Inn in Jacksonville, FL. I was awakened during the early AM hours by a gunshot followed a few minutes later by sirens and blue lights. Next morning I learned that a man had been shot and killed by an intruder in a ground floor room below my room.

I suppose the shooter could have gone up to the 2nd or 3rd floor, but he probably figured that the stairs or elevator would slow down his escape after the robbery/murder.

[Bigg Red]

Well, this article is much more informative than the one posted last night regarding this incident.

[CedarDave]

No word yet who the perp was.

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[Kartographer]

There is no doubt in my mind that if they had not been carrying we would be looking at a double murder/rape(being open minded I am not saying that the rape victim would have necessarily been her)/robbery.

[HotHunt]

I believe both are conservatives already. I’ve met Lynne Russell and she’s no liberal. I think you may be making assumptions that aren’t based in act.

[HotHunt]

They don't work at CNN now. I don't think either one of them were liberals. She was at CNN early on and left in 2001. I think back then it wasn't near as liberal and everybody that worked there wasn't pinned as a liberal as they are today. I met Lynne Russell in the 1970s in Kansas City and she is no liberal. She's been a deputy sheriff and a private investigator in Georgia. I'd be surprised if her husband was one either. His expertise was military weapons and warfare. A serial entrepreneur. I believe he left CNN in the late 1980's.

They've both been described as real-life characters out of action adventure novels. She, as Xena, the Princess Warrior, after writing her memoir, "How to Win Friends, Kick Ass and Influence People" And he has been described as "an entrepreneur and an adventurer you'd read about in a novel somewhere." Also as a "no-nonsense, shoot-from-the-hip-style and rugged, masculine looks” guy. Not exactly a description of a limp-wristed, lily-livered liberal.

Both of them have had multifaceted careers and look like they are made for each other.

[HotHunt]

Yeah, that would be great if you got your story "straight". Know at least a little bit of what you're talking about before spouting off from the hip. Did you even read the article? Do you know anything about either one of these people? The answer is "no".

She was the first female anchor on CNN back before it was a left-wing propaganda tool. She left the network almost 15 years ago. She has been a private investigator, deputy sheriff, holds a black belt, among many other skills and talents. She is not what you make her out to be with your quick-draw conclusions. He is a former special forces guy with an immense talent an background in military weaponry and warfare. Not a girlie man himself.

I met Lynne Russell in Kansas City in the late 1970s and she is a conservative. I've not met him but I would be surprised if he even came close to being a liberal. Bing both their names and read up on their history and lives and their multi-faceted careers and you will change your tune.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Let’s not be so smug until everything plays out.

[The Sons of Liberty]

I watched her for enough years to know she is NO conservative Big Boy. So GFY!

[The Sons of Liberty]

You met her in the 70s and still having dreams - good for you.

[The Sons of Liberty]

a deputy sherriff in the Atlanta area

OK. Hey did you know that JF'ing Kerry was in 'Nam and his buddy Juan McLame were both 'War Heroes"? Unless she's a female Sherrif Joe, that doesn't mean squat.