Late on the first night of the riot, I was taking pictures from the front seat of the CNN news van. We were driving by a corner mini-mall where looters were busy gathering merchandise. It was anarchy, with dozens of people looting and no law enforcement in sight. I leaned out of my window to get a clear view. I panned the entire scene with my camera. Out of the corner of my viewfinder I saw an object coming into view. It turned out to be a baseball bat. A gang member had thrown it toward my camera. It bounced off the side of our van. A moment later, another one came spinning my way. It hit the vent frame on the front window of the front passenger side of our van (right next to my head). The bat bounced inside the vehicle. It was smaller than a full-sized bat, but it left a nice dent in the metal frame. There were gang names carved all over the wooden bat. Just then I heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash from the rear of the van. It appeared to be aimed up in the air. We didn’t wait around to find out. I prompted the driver, “Drive!” and we left. I kept the bat.