Kelli O’Hara, who was recently named Salt Lake City’s “Best Tough Reporter,” is moving across the country to join WTVD, an ABC O&O serving the Durham-Raleigh-Fayetteville market.

WTVD news director Rob Elmore confirmed the move to TVSpy this morning. O’Hara will begin work with the station next week as a general assignment and investigative reporter.

O’Hara has experience covering the region. Before joining Salt Lake City ABC-affiliate KTVX, O’Hara worked at stations in Roanoke, VA and Wilmington, NC, eventually landing a general assignment/investigative reporter job at Richmond’s WTVR.

In naming her the city’s “Best Tough Reporter,” Salt Lake City Weekly said that O’Hara “has the kind of no-fluff grit and gravitas that make even the occasional nonstory, like buying spice in a low-rent convenience store, pop.”

While WTVD’s live coverage of Thursday’s hostage situation at an area bank was dramatic, the most chilling moment was broadcast as a replay.

The Raleigh ABC-affiliate provided live coverage during its evening newscasts of the standoff between police and a 19-year-old armed robber.  The stand-off ended around 6:12 p.m. as officers shot the suspect as he exited the bank with a hostage.

WTVD was in a commercial break when the shooting occurred so viewers were naturally shielded from witnessing the shooting death. Coming out of the break, though, WTVD decided to show a replay, filmed by the station’s helicopter.

“Wow, that is just really stunning to watch,” WTVD anchor Steve Daniels said as the grainy video footage played. Read more