Shock moment TV reporter screams as she's mugged right before going live on air

Clara Nery, a Brazilian journalist, recently suffered a shock incident while gearing up to report live on camera.

A TV correspondent for the Band network, Clara was mugged on a sidewalk in Botafogo, a southern Rio de Janeiro neighborhood, moments before going live for the Bora Brasil morning program on Monday, July 28.

In the bizarre clip, Clara can be seen typing intently on her phone in the run up to the live broadcast, as a man on a motorbike appears in the background and slowly closes in on the reporter. While driving past Clara, the assailant can be seen reaching out and swiping the journalist’s phone from her hand. It comes after awarning to Brit tourists planning all-inclusive holidays to Spain.

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The clip shows Clara screaming out in shock and letting out a swear word before lunging after her phone and disappearing from the camera’s view.

Clara later confirmed the mugger was unable to steal and make off with her device as she had a firm grip on it. She said: “I had my back turned when this man rode by on a motorcycle on the sidewalk and tried to take my phone. In the video, you can see the moment he puts his hand on my phone and takes it from me.

“Luckily, and despite his lack of skill, I managed to retrieve the phone. But we already have the security camera footage, the camera that managed to focus on his face.”

The scene of the attempted mugging was attended to by a Rio de Janeiro Military Police unit, which searched the southern Rio de Janeiro neighborhood; however, they were unable to locate the suspect, as per MailOnline. However, after a subsequent review of the CCTV surveillance cameras, authorities were successfully able to obtain a clear shot of the suspect.

In a translated post on social media, Clara wrote: “A scare of those to go live, but the important thing is that everything turned out fine! Thank you for the messages and support from colleagues from the Military police and Civil police. Shall we share his face that he wants to be known?”

Transcribed by a Mirror reporter, Clara can be heard saying in her Instagram video: “Hi everyone, I’m coming on now a bit more calmly just to say that everything is fine. A lot of people have been asking, sending me messages, wondering if I got hurt or if my phone was broken. I wasn’t hurt, and my phone was recovered completely intact — it didn’t break when it hit the ground.

“Despite the scare, fortunately everything was recorded, as there were security cameras around. I was with my colleague, cinematographer Leonardo Teixeira, so we also have his camera footage, because we were about to go live, which made the scare even greater. But all those images are already with the Military Police and the Civil Police.

“I also want to personally thank Lieutenant J. Gonçalves from the Botafogo Battalion, and Police Chief Dr. Alan Duarte from the Botafogo Police Department. They gave me a lot of support, and I really trust their work. I’m sure that soon he will be identified and arrested.”

Clara continues: “Now it remains to be seen whether, once arrested, he will actually stay in custody. Because we see so many cases like this, or even much worse, where the criminals are armed, the victims are threatened, and then the offenders end up being released shortly after — sometimes just a few days later, or even during the custody hearing. But what matters today is that everything is okay.

“These are alarming numbers, and this isn’t an isolated incident. In fact, we’re going to bring a full report on this in today’s edition of Jornal da Band. And since so many things are going viral online and on social media, I’ll also leave his photo here to see if it spreads and helps find him.”

The Rio de Janeiro Public Security Institute reports a 27% rise in cell phone thefts in June compared to the same period in 2024. In total, over 2,300 mobile devices were stolen last month, up from 1,808 in June of the previous year.