Bakersfield police hunt gunman who fired 10 shots into KBAK/KBFX studio

Someone opened fire on the shared Bakersfield studios of television stations KBAK and KBFX for the second time in four days early Tuesday, following a Friday night attack in which 10 rounds struck a conference room and an office.

No one was hurt in either shooting and no arrest has been made in either case, the Bakersfield Police Department said. The gunfire damaged the building, including a front-facing window, ABC30 Fresno reported Wednesday. Police have not said whether one gunman was responsible for both.

Investigators said 10 shots went into a conference room and an office in the first shooting. Additional rounds hit the building during the second, early on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The department has not said how many were fired that morning.

What the security video shows

Sinclair released security video of the first shooting, The National News Desk reported Tuesday. The footage shows what appears to be a dark-colored car outside the building, firing at the studio before driving away, with muzzle flashes visible as the shots are fired. A similar dark vehicle was seen at the studio on Tuesday morning.

The car was parked outside the building before the shots were fired, BNO News reported, citing the stations.

Police have not said whether the vehicle seen on Tuesday is the same car that was there on Friday. No one has been publicly identified in connection with either shooting.

The first shooting happened at about 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, at the shared studio on Westwind Drive, according to the stations. The second came early Tuesday. Bakersfield, in the southern San Joaquin Valley, sits about 115 miles north of Los Angeles.

The investigation so far

The police department has released no information about a possible motive. Investigators have not said whether the stations were targeted or whether the gunfire was random, and they have not said which they believe it to be.

What the department has put out publicly is the number of shots fired on Friday and the rooms they struck, along with the security video of the car outside the building on Westwind Drive. It has not released a description of anyone in the vehicle.

The building at 1901 Westwind Drive houses CBS affiliate KBAK-TV and Fox affiliate KBFX-CD, both run under Sinclair Broadcast Group from the shared facility, according to the stations' FCC public inspection files. The stations operate online as BakersfieldNow, whose YouTube channel carries streams.

Neither the police department nor the stations have said whether anyone was inside the conference room or the office when the rounds came through.

What state law allows

Maliciously discharging a firearm at an occupied building can be charged as a felony under California Penal Code Section 246, carrying three, five or seven years in state prison, or as a misdemeanor with six months to a year in county jail.

Five days after the first shooting, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with either attack on the Bakersfield studio.

The shootings land against local figures that have been moving the other way. Shootings in Bakersfield fell 60 percent between 2021 and 2024, according to the city. Across California, firearm-involved aggravated assaults were 33.6 percent above 2019 levels in 2024, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

The statute concerns shooting at an occupied building. People were working inside the Bakersfield studio when it was fired on, ABC30 Fresno reported, and the stations said no employee was injured in either incident.

On air through the shootings

The stations told their audience that news coverage would continue on their websites, on social media channels and on television. BakersfieldNow said viewers may see occasional broadcasts from its partners at The National News Desk during some local news time periods. It did not say for how long or which programs would be affected.

A Sacramento shooting in 2025

A California broadcast studio has come under gunfire before. The Sacramento station KXTV was targeted in September 2025 in a similar drive-by shooting that sent rounds into its lobby, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. That case led to state and federal felony charges against a suspect.

KXTV is the ABC affiliate in Sacramento. The man charged in that case, 64 at the time, has pleaded not guilty to the federal counts, NBC News reported. Physical attacks on newsrooms are rare but not unheard of.

Two statements from Sinclair

Jessica Belluci, speaking for Sinclair, Inc., said after Friday's shooting that the company was cooperating fully with the Bakersfield Police Department as it investigated. She said no one was injured and that the safety and well-being of employees is the company's top priority. Sinclair said it was taking appropriate steps to ensure a safe and secure workplace and appreciated the efforts of local law enforcement.

Sinclair did not say what those steps were, and neither statement said whether the stations changed staffing or hours at the studio. The first came from Belluci; the second was issued in the company's name.

The stations have covered both shootings on BakersfieldNow, updating their account as police released details.

The company issued a second statement after Tuesday's gunfire, saying it was taking the incidents extremely seriously and that the safety and well-being of employees is its highest priority. The first statement had called employee safety the company's top priority. It credited the police department with a swift response and said it wanted those responsible brought to justice.

We are deeply concerned by a second shooting incident at our KBAK/KBFX studios in Bakersfield this morning, following a similar incident Friday evening.

BakersfieldNow updated its account on Tuesday evening to add the second shooting and the additional shots that hit the building. By Wednesday morning, police were still looking for whoever fired the shots and had made no arrest in either case, ABC30 Fresno reported.

Anyone with information about either shooting at the Westwind Drive studio has been asked to call the Bakersfield Police Department at (661) 327-7111.