Former CNN anchor Lynne Russell was shaken, but unharmed, after a man broke into the motel room Russell and her husband were sharing. Following an altercation, Russell’s husband shot the intruder to death.
Russell told reporters at KOB Channel 4 in Albuquerque NM that she and husband Chuck de Caro were on a cross-country road trip and tired from a long day of travel when they decided to pull in at a Motel 6. de Caro went into the bathroom to take a shower, and Russell went out to the car to get something. When she returned to the room, there was a man with a gun standing in the doorway.
“He pushed me into the room,” said Russell, “and that’s when my husband came out of the shower and saw what was happening. We tried to calm him, confuse him and do everything we could do to just come out of it in one piece.”
The intruder took de Caro’s briefcase, and then started firing shots at him. However, both Lynne Russell and her husband are licensed to carry concealed weapons. de Caro went for his gun, and a shootout ensued.
Russell ducked behind nearby furniture while the two battled. Chuck de Caro suffered bullet wounds to his abdomen, arm, and groin, but has been hospitalized and is expected to recover.
The intruder staggered out to the parking lot, where he died of his injuries.
de Caro is a former Special Forces officer as well as a private investigator, and said he “was determined to save my dream girl’s life–even if it cost me my own.” He credited his military and police training for his ability to do so.
Lynne Russell was a CNN anchor from 1983 to 2001, and helped guide the network as it transitioned into 24-hour news in the early 80s. She said her husband is a hero, and that he saved her life.
(Photo credits: WENN)
