Ten shots struck a conference room and an office at the KBAK/KBFX television studio on Westwind Drive in Bakersfield last Friday night. As of Monday, no arrests had been made. Security camera footage from the scene shows a dark-colored car parked outside the building before muzzle flashes erupt from the vehicle. No one was hurt.
The shooting, which happened on October 9, is now under investigation by the Bakersfield Police Department, according to KFOX. Investigators told the outlet that ten shots struck the conference room and an office inside the building, which houses CBS affiliate KBAK-TV and Fox affiliate KBFX-CD, both run under Sinclair Broadcast Group from the shared studio facility at 1901 Westwind Drive, per the FCC Public Inspection Files. As of Monday, no arrests had been made.
The station operates online as BakersfieldNow, whose YouTube channel features streams, according to the outlet's YouTube channel. KBAK traces its roots to August 1953, when it signed on as KAFY-TV, making it Bakersfield's oldest television station. Its original studios were on Chester Avenue, and the stations now share the Westwind Drive complex where Friday's shooting occurred, per Wikipedia.
A Troubling Echo From Sacramento
This is not the first time a California broadcast studio has come under gunfire. In September 2025, Sacramento station KXTV was targeted in a similar drive-by shooting that sent multiple rounds through its lobby windows, leading to state and federal felony charges against a suspect, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Physical attacks on newsrooms, while rare, are not unheard of.
Whether the Bakersfield shooting was a targeted act against the station or a random act of violence remains unknown, and police have not said which they believe it to be. Anyone with information has been asked to call the Bakersfield Police Department at (661) 327-7111.
What Charges Could Follow
Under California Penal Code Section 246, maliciously discharging a firearm into an occupied building is a felony, carrying a potential sentence of three, five, or seven years in state prison along with fines of up to $10,000, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. The statute concerns shooting at an occupied building.
Local Crime Trends Complicate the Picture
The shooting lands against a backdrop of otherwise improving gun violence numbers in Bakersfield. Between 2021 and 2024, the city recorded a 60 percent decline in shootings. Statewide, firearm-involved aggravated assaults remain 33.6 percent above 2019 levels, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
The shooting at the Westwind Drive studio is under investigation by the Bakersfield Police Department.
