March 31, 1995, will go down as a tragic day in Corpus Christi history. It was 31 years ago today that the Queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla, was shot and killed in a hotel room on Navigation.
I spoke with former KZ-TV reporter Dave Johnson, who covered the murder, in a digital exclusive interview. Johnson said he was the one calling the shots that day because his boss was away.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
He reported and anchored that day, even deciding to cut into programming when Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, announced her passing.
"This thing got to me because if you've ever heard Mr. Quintanilla, he got up there, that's where he was at the hospital and he had to announce what had happened and you can hear his voice crack at the end and people put their arms around him here in a minute," Johnson said.
"I never felt so bad for a, a man in my life, uh him, uh," Johnson said.
"It's like a father because it was just like, and I ad-libbed something at the end of this. It was like it's his own flesh and blood because I'm starting to get emotionally involved in this now and then I gotta go, OK," Johnson said.
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