Reporter reunites with son in emotional moment live on air after shooting occurs at his Denver school

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Fox News reporter reunites with son after Denver school shooting

Fox News senior correspondent Alicia Acuna shares an emotional moment with her son live on the air while discussing developments following a shooting at his Colorado school.

Fox News senior correspondent Alicia Acuna reunited with her son on live TV Wednesday following a shooting that occurred at her children's high school.

Acuna, who has been with Fox News since 1997 and works from the Denver bureau, has three kids currently enrolled at East High School, where Wednesday's shooting occurred. She joined "America Reports" to cover the incident and a special guest joined her in the middle of her correspondence.

"Excuse me, my son just came up, and I had not seen," Acuna told anchors John Roberts and Sandra Smith in the middle of a report outside the school.  

"I’m sorry, I had not seen my kid," an emotional Acuna reiterated as they hugged. "I’m so sorry, there is no way you would have let your kid walk by." 

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Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna reunites with her son following a shooting at his Denver school on Wednesday. (Fox News)

Smith told her to step aside and be with her son, if needed, but Acuna quickly got back to work.

"He’s good," Acuna said. "He’s the one that was telling me what was happening."  

Before the touching moment when she was reunited with her son, Acuna, who at that point already knew her children were safe, walked viewers through her experience and explained frustrations she shares with fellow parents.  

"I have so many questions, as do so many other parents here. I can tell you that I was sitting in my desk, working on a different story, and I started getting texts from my son, saying that he was in an assembly and then, all of the sudden, there were police officers everywhere, there were ambulances, the assembly was shut down and there were cops guarding their door," Acuna said. 

"I kept in contact with him over text because he said he had to stay silent," she continued, noting that she also has a niece who attends the school.  

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"She was hiding in a closet, texting with her mom, my sister… I was one of the parents coming down here, also just rushing to see what we could do, and of course we couldn’t get too close," Acuna said.

People wait in front of East High School in Denver following report of a shooting. (KDVR)

Acuna said many parents were unaware of a plan that included students being patted down upon entering the school, which came to light when a student allegedly shot two faculty members. 

"I had no idea, and a lot of other parents had no idea, that their kids were walking into the same school with other kids that were under a plan, that were being patted down because there was enough concern to do so on a daily basis," she said. "When I asked why parents weren’t being told this, I was told by the superintendent that was to protect the privacy of the people who were being patted down. As a parent, my question is, ‘What about the safety and the concerns we have for all of our students?’ There is a tremendous amount of frustration right now." 

The Denver Police Department tweeted just after 10 a.m. local time Wednesday that officers were responding to a shooting at East High School.  

In a follow-up tweet, the department said, "Two adult victims have been located and transported to area hospitals. It is believed the suspect is no longer on scene, and investigators are working to develop additional info." ATF Denver confirmed in a tweet that it was on scene.  

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Denver Public Schools later revealed that "two adult faculty members have been transported to area hospitals." The school said it will be conducting a "controlled release" of students once the Denver Police Department allows. The district said it was working with the Regional Transportation District to increase the number of buses to help students get home.  

The district initially tweeted that a lockdown was in place and all students were in their third period classrooms.  

Acuna has two other children who already graduated from East High School. 

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"This is a really weird thing, toggling between reporting and being a parent… but I’m speaking as a parent," Acuna said.  

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.