Fox News Accidentally Airs Live Suicide

Shep Smith apologizes after car chase net had been following ends with driver shooting himself

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/28/2012 4:01:36 PM

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith issued an on-air apology Friday after the network, which had been following a car chase in Arizona, saw that chase end in the driver shooting himself on live television.

"We really messed up and we're all very sorry," Smith said. "That didn't belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV and I personalize apologize to you that that happened."

Smith said Fox News went to a five-second delay once the carjacker pulled off the road, but that producers weren't able to cut away to commercial quickly enough to prevent the shooting from airing live.

In the clip, which is available on Mediaite, Smith can been seen yelling, "Get off it! Get off it!" as the man put a gun to his head.

"It's just wrong and that was wrong and that won't happen again on my watch and I'm sorry," Smith continued in his apology. "We'll update you on what happened with that guy and how that went down tonight on The Fox Report."

Fox News has issued a formal statement on the incident saying that televising the shooting was the result of "severe human error."

View Smith's on-air apology below: