Gunfire-dodging reporter joins Telemundo Chicago

Jorge Enrique De Santiago

Jorge Enrique De Santiago

Jorge Enrique De Santiago, a news anchor and reporter from the Telemundo station in San Antonio, Texas, has been hired as a general assignment reporter at WSNS-Channel 44, the Spanish-language network’s station here.

While working for KVDA-TV in San Antonio, De Santiago made headlines in 2014 when a murder suspect he was interviewing at an apartment complex opened fire on his news crew.

"I thought my time had come to die,” De Santiago said at the time. “I jumped a fence, but I gave up and I crossed myself. I thought [he] would kill me."

“To be honest this is my worst dream come true,” he later told reporters. “I’ve never ever wanted to be on this side being the one who interviews. I'm usually the one on the other side of the camera asking those questions, and now to be here and having the questions being asked to me, it's something I would have never imagined was going to happen.”

De Santiago credited a security guard at the apartment complex with protecting his crew when the suspect began shooting. The guard was shot several times.

“Jorge is an exceptionally passionate and dedicated journalist with a genuine interest in reporting the news and information that matters most to viewers, and we are thrilled that he is joining Telemundo Chicago,” Diana Maldonado, vice president of news at Telemundo Chicago, said in a statement. “Jorge’s outstanding journalistic skills will help our news team and station as it continues to grow, and we are excited to have him in Chicago.

Starting June 1, he’ll appear on the 4:30, 5 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts of Noticiero Telemundo Chicago.

Before joining KVDA in 2013, De Santiago worked for Entravision Communications stations in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, and for the Univision station in Phoenix, Arizona. He’s a journalism graduate of Glendale Community College in Glendale, Arizona.