When Tony Kiritsis stepped into a room with a shotgun strapped to Richard Hall’s back, WISH-TV management and journalists weren’t sure what would happen next. But one thing was certain: They were going to keep the cameras rolling. 

On February 8, 1977, Kiritsis stepped into the Meridian Mortgage offices in downtown Indianapolis with one thing on his mind, justice. Having found himself behind on mortgage payments for a piece of property he owned, Kiritsis was running out of options. His mortgage broker, Richard Hall, denied requests to extend a grace period for payment, and the property was approaching foreclosure. 

FULL VIDEO | Tony Kiritsis live press conference during hostage situation in 1977

In his search for justice, Kiritsis wrapped a wire around Hall’s neck and attached it to a 12-gauge Winchester shotgun. The wire was connected to the trigger on the other end of the shotgun. This makeshift “dead man’s trigger” was set to go off if the police made any attempt to disarm or neutralize Kiritsiis. 

Shortly after, police arrived on the scene to assess the situation. Around the same time, journalists in the WISH-TV newsroom were getting word of what was happening. “At first it was just a guy with a shotgun,” says WISH-TV photographer Bill Fisher. Fisher grabbed his camera and headed downtown. 

When he arrived, Tony Kiritsis was walking with his hostage to a police car. Fisher had to make a quick decision: Should we follow the car? The answer was “yes.” 

As Kiritsis and Hall, still with the shotgun wired to his neck, drove the police car toward the west side of Indianapolis, Fisher and a handful of other journalists followed. Minutes later, Kiritsis arrived at his west side apartment complex. He and Hall went upstairs to his apartment, and a three-day standoff with police commenced.

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During these three days, Kiritsis, with Hall handcuffed to a bed, exchanged phone calls with local police and radio stations. Eventually, Kiritsis provided authorities with a demand; he wanted a live television press conference and the freedom to say whatever he wanted. 

The community room at the apartment complex was hastily converted into a press room, and on February 10, 1977, Kiritsis strapped the shotgun back onto Hall’s head and entered a room full of police, journalists, and cameras to hold what would turn out to be an almost one-hour press conference. 

Having scrambled to purchase live remote broadcasting capabilities from AT&T, WISH-TV hauled a studio news camera to the location of the press conference and began to broadcast live. 

It didn’t take long for Kiritsis to turn to profanity when listing his demands and ranting in front of a live television audience. Words that had never been heard on live television were now being beamed directly into living rooms to a prime-time audience across Central Indiana. After only a few minutes, management at several local stations had seen enough and decided to pull the plug on the press conference.    

Back at WISH-TV headquarters, a decision had to be made. With Robert McConnell, WISH-TV’s General Manager, out of town during the event, the decision fell onto WISH-TV’s News Director, Lee Giles. Giles conferred with WISH staff, including Mike Ahern, about pulling the plug on Kiritsis’s endless profanity-laced rant. Also hanging over the decision was the possibility that Kiritsis could pull the trigger at any moment, and thousands of viewers could witness a horrible execution on live television.  

Ultimately, sensing the importance of what was happening, Giles decided to keep the live broadcast going. “I did what we had to do,” Giles said. 

After almost an hour of yelling, cursing, and incoherent ranting, Kiritsis agreed to free Hall from the shotgun. Cameras were still rolling when local police escorted Kiritsis outside and allowed him to fire his weapon into the air, an effort to show authorities that the shotgun was indeed loaded. 

Back at WISH-TV, the fallout from the incident was swift. Robert McConnell returned from vacation to a hornet’s nest of controversy. Initially, he threatened to fire Giles and Ahern for their decision to keep the live broadcast going. In the end, McConnell demanded Giles personally reply to every complaint letter sent to the station about the risky and profane broadcast. Luckily for Giles, only 25 such letters were sent. 

The Tony Kiritsis incident changed how television stations handled live, on-the-scene broadcasts. In a time before tape delay, whatever happened in front of the cameras, for better or worse, would find its way into the homes of WISH-TV viewers.