Elena Palmer was frightened when the television network she was working in became under attack.

Instead of fleeing out the back door like most of her co-workers, Palmer put her camera to the window and pressed record.

Palmer, a former correspondent for the German television network RTL, spoke about her near death experience at Wednesday nights “Physical Dangers Faced by Journalist” panel discussion.

October 1993 – Americans turn on their televisions to find Russian military troops surrounding the Russian White House and parliament building.

A culmination of constitutional crisis arose when Russian President Boris Yeltsin was confronted by popular unrest after disbanding both houses of parliament.

Crisis erupted on the night of Oct. 3, 1993 when tens of thousands of anti-Yeltsin demonstrators took to the streets to aid in parliament’s defense. A large group of protestors found their way to the television station where Palmer worked at the time.

It was unclear who shot first, but at the end of the three-hour gun-battle, 45 people including two media members and a lawyer from Louisiana were killed, Palmer said.

“Shooting started and mostly everyone ran out the back door,” she said. “We stayed as journalists who wanted to report what was happening outside.”

When the shooting started, workers who stayed inside the television studio turned off the buildings lights to hide in the darkness while filming the violent situation outside.

“I think they were aiming for our the red lights on our cameras. A bullet shattered the window in front of me, Palmer said. “Cameramen inside the building were killed that night.”

Mystery surrounds that fatal night with the questions of who shot first and why.

Palmer said she believed either organized crime leaders or the Russian military prompted the attacks rather than the demonstrators.

Palmer said she was ashamed the video she made was put in a documentary with commentary that inaccurately portrayed the conflict.

“It was an emotional, terrifying and professional experience,” she said.

Justin Peterson, an officer of the Charleston Police Department, was serving in the Marines and stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow at the time of the outburst, remembers watching tanks fire artillery shells into the parliament building and Russian military firing into crowds of demonstrators.

Peterson, who also spoke the panel, said he was unaware of the extent of the political problems going on at the time.

Journalism instructor Dan Hagen said journalists should not think of themselves as heroes.

“Things are getting worse for journalists worldwide,” said Hagen. “Around the world editors worry more about losing their lives than loosing circulation.”

According to the United Nations, in 2006 more than 100 members of the media were killed, making it the bloodiest year recorded for journalist.