A paparazzo was killed while trying to photograph who he thought was Justin Bieber.
The paparazzo thought he saw Bieber sitting his in parked white Ferrari, so he photographed the car as a photo of the megastar could mean big bucks for a photographer, but Bieber wasn't in the car. It turned out to be two of Bieber's friends in the vehicle.
Not realizing this, he parked his own car across the street from the Ferrari. Then he crossed the street and snapped some photos of the occupants. When he was crossing the street to go back to his own car, he was hit and killed by oncoming traffic near Interstate 405 in California on New Year's Day.
Police told the unidentified 29-year-old man to return to his vehicle repeatedly.
"He seemed reluctant to go back, but eventually he did," LAPD Sgt. Rudy Lopez told KTLA. "While this photographer returned to the vehicle, it did not appear as if he was looking, and he was struck by a vehicle traveling southbound on Sepulveda."
The person driving that car that struck the man was a grandmother who had her grandchildren in the car. She was very upset over the incident, according to KTLA. She will not face criminal charges because she was obeying traffic regulations.
Bieber is not stranger to being chased down by the paparazzi, but he feels deep grief towards to photographer and his family and he hopes that paparazzi laws may change after the incident.
"While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim," Bieber said in a statement, according to CNN.
"Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves," he continued.
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