Shimon Prokupecz

Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent

Shimon Prokupecz is an award-winning journalist and CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent. Based in New York, he principally covers law enforcement and breaking national news stories, where his standout reporting has garnered accolades and acclaim from the Emmy's, Peabody's, and George Polk Awards.
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Students hold a protest in support of Palestinians at Columbia University, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York, U.S., April 20, 2024.
Adam Gray/Reuters
Columbia University main campus classes will be hybrid until semester ends; NYU students, faculty arrested during protests
Apr 23, 2024
New York University students and faculty members have been arrested during protests on the school’s campus Monday night, the New York Police Department confirmed to CNN — just miles away from Columbia University, where pro-Palestinian protests began last week and have since spread to campuses across the United States.
Police officers detain pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had set up an encampment on the South Lawn at Columbia University in New York, on Thursday afternoon, April 18, 2024. The police moved Thursday afternoon to quell the protest at Columbia University, and began to arrest protesters at the encampment. (C.S. Muncy/The New York Times)
C.S. Muncy/The New York Times/Redux
Over 100 people arrested as NYPD breaks up pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, law enforcement source says
Apr 19, 2024
At least 30 people were detained by New York Police Department officers, CNN witnessed, as police entered Columbia University on Thursday to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest that began a day earlier as the university’s president testified before a House committee about the school’s response to antisemitism.
Shimon Prokupecz Michele Morrow 03 20 2024
•Video 6:48
CNN reporter confronts GOP nominee who called for Obama to be executed 6:48
Mar 21, 2024
CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz breaks down his interaction with Michele Morrow, a conservative activist who won the GOP nomination to lead North Carolina’s public school system, whose tweets between 2019 and 2021 called for the execution of prominent Democrats and referenced QAnon.
UVALDE, TEXAS - MAY 24: A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on May 24, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the mass shooting at the school. 19 children and two teachers were killed when a gunman entered the school, opening fire on students and faculty. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
‘Our last chance for justice’: School employees, victims of Uvalde mass shooting begin giving testimony before grand jury
Mar 15, 2024
School employees and victims of the Uvalde mass shooting began giving testimony Friday before a grand jury investigating the failed police response at Robb Elementary School in 2022, according to several people familiar with the proceeding.
Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez
City of Uvalde
Uvalde police chief abruptly announces resignation days after report cleared officers in massacre at Robb Elementary School
Mar 13, 2024
Less than a week after the Uvalde City Council received an investigative report clearing local police officers of wrongdoing in the 2022 Robb Elementary School massacre, the Texas city’s police chief abruptly announced Tuesday he is quitting.
SHIMON UVALDE
CNN
•Video 2:15
CNN reporter confronts Uvalde investigator who cleared local police of wrongdoing 2:15
Mar 8, 2024
Moments after presenting the findings of an independent report on the May 2022 school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, without assigning blame, the man who led it walked out of a city council meeting without taking questions, sparking the fury of many victims’ families. CNN senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz reports.
UVALDE, TEXAS - APRIL 27: A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on April 27, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. The town of Uvalde prepares to mark the 1-year anniversary of the 19 children and two adults murdered during last year's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Voters support law enforcement leaders condemned for their failures in Uvalde school massacre
Mar 6, 2024
Two men criticized for their failures to challenge the Uvalde school shooter and rescue children and teachers trapped in the carnage won support from voters to continue as law enforcement leaders in the Texas community.
UVALDE, TX - AUGUST 24: The sun sets behind the memorial for the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School on August 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. The Consolidated Independent School District Board today fired Police Chief Pete Arredondo over police response during the May 24 massacre, America’s deadliest school shooting since 2012. (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)
Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
Multiple officers ordered to testify in grand jury probe into 2022 Uvalde school massacre
Feb 23, 2024
Multiple law enforcement officers who responded to the 2022 school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, have been ordered to appear before a grand jury investigating the police response to the incident, a person familiar with the proceeding told CNN.
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CNN
•Video 2:27
CNN reporter questions police chief on suspects in Kansas City shooting 2:27
Feb 16, 2024
CNN senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz questions police Chief Stacey Graves after a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory rally left one person dead and at least 21 others wounded.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - FEBRUARY 14: Law enforcement and medical personnel respond to a shooting at Union Station during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on February 14, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. Several people were shot and two people were detained after a rally celebrating the Chiefs Super Bowl victory. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Kansas City shooting may have stemmed from personal dispute, police say; 2 juveniles detained
Feb 16, 2024
Wednesday’s shooting in Kansas City is believed to have been the result of a personal dispute, rather than an attack on the celebration itself, according to several law enforcement officials.
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Evelio Contreras/CNN
Denver nears its breaking point as migrants and the cold pile in
Jan 31, 2024
Denver’s mayor says caring for migrants sent from Texas could cost the city $180 million and put at risk services for residents.
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CNN
•Video 5:24
Migrants look for shelter in Denver as temperatures dip below zero 5:24
Jan 31, 2024
CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz speaks to migrants braving freezing temperatures in Denver, Colorado, where Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent thousands of people since May.
UVALDE, TEXAS - MAY 24: Law enforcement stand watch near a memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the mass shooting at the school. 19 children and two teachers were killed when a gunman entered the school, opening fire on students and faculty. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Uvalde school massacre could have been stopped sooner, DOJ report finds
Jan 19, 2024
Officers had many opportunities as the 2022 school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was still unfolding to reassess their flawed response to the shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, the US Justice Department concludes in a damning new report.
FILE - Law enforcement, and other first responders, gather outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. Four months after the Robb Elementary School shooting, the Uvalde school district on Friday, Oct. 7 pulled its entire embattled campus police force off the job following a wave of new outrage over the hiring of a former Texas state trooper who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response as a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
•Video 2:46
Family of Uvalde student shared DOJ report with CNN. Here’s what it says 2:46
Jan 18, 2024
Critical failures in leadership among specific law enforcement officers who rushed to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde are blamed by the Justice Department in a new 575-page report being made public nearly 20 months after the massacre that left 19 students and two teachers dead. CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz reports.
uvalde students split
•Video 1:07
‘I miss them’: Uvalde school shooting survivors speak with CNN (2023) 1:07
Jan 18, 2024
A gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Attorney General Merrick Garland takes a tour of Uvalde, Texas, on January 17, 2024.
Pool
US attorney general met with Uvalde victims’ families before DOJ releases report on law enforcement response to massacre
Jan 18, 2024
US Attorney General Merrick Garland is meeting with families of victims killed and injured in the 2022 Uvalde school massacre, ahead of Thursday’s planned release of a Department of Justice report on law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

About

Shimon Prokupecz is an award-winning journalist and CNN’s senior crime and justice correspondent. Based in New York, he principally covers law enforcement and breaking national news stories, where his standout reporting has garnered accolades and acclaim from the Emmy’s, Peabody’s, and George Polk Awards.

In May 2022, Prokupecz led the network’s months-long coverage of the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where he garnered numerous exclusives and relentlessly pursued the glaring, unanswered questions about the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas school shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers. His gut-wrenching interview with one surviving teacher underscored the horrific question, “Why didn’t anyone help sooner?”, and resulted in the review of law enforcement and school officials’ roles in the tragedy. Prokupecz and his team’s groundbreaking Uvalde reporting received a George Polk Award for National Television Reporting, and also won a Peabody Award.

In addition to Uvalde, Prokupecz has been at the forefront of multiple major mass shootings for the network, including the New York City subway shooting, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, Pulse Nightclub shooting, and the school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, where he continued to break news and gained exclusive footage of the shooter’s parents’ arrest.

Prokupecz was also a member of the Emmy-award winning team that captured the FBI raid on Roger Stone’s home in 2019, and has covered numerous national stories including the George Floyd Protests, Mueller Investigation, the Justice Department bringing charges against Senator Robert Menendez, Pulse Nightclub shooting, and more.

Previously, Prokupecz was based in the network’s Washington, D.C. bureau, where he played an integral role in covering the investigation examining Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

Prokupecz began his CNN career in 2013 as a justice producer in Washington, D.C., before relocating to the network’s New York bureau as a law enforcement producer where he covered the New York Police Department, FBI, and various law enforcement agencies in the Northeast U.S.

Prior to joining CNN, Prokupecz worked as a producer at WNBC and as an assignment editor at WABC in New York City. He previously served as a paralegal in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

Prokupecz is from Brooklyn, New York and is a graduate of Hunter College.