Attempted heist caught on live TV

FORT SMITH--Viewers of a Fort Smith auction show helped stop an attempted robbery unfolding on live television. Two men attempted to rob 'Shopping Mania' as it was being broadcast, and people watching the show took action and called 9-1-1. Law enforcement says this is one of the more unusual cases they've seen, because you could see what was taking place, live.

“Somebody call police, we're being robbed,” were the words of Shopping Mania host Gary Spirito over the air Thursday night. “I just turned and there it was, pointing at me,” Spirito said of the gun. Then he told the intruder that he was on live TV.

People watching the program saw a man run past the window of the warehouse where the show is shot just minutes after Spirito made his plea to the viewers. The show's fans were quick to call for help “I mean he just he got on air and said somebody call 9-1-1 we're being robbed. There's a guy with a gun,” one viewer told a 911 operator.

The fact the incident took place on live TV made for unusual circumstances. “It was a little confusing at first. When someone calls and tells you they're watching a robbery on TV and they need the police, you can imagine it caught the dispatcher off guard so it extremely unusual,” Fort Smith Police Sgt. Jarrard Copeland said.--