ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A Fulton County reporter captured some of the most intense moments of violence that rocked Albany Saturday night.

Ryan Lorey spoke with NEWS10 ABC’s Anya Tucker and shared why he felt to compelled cover the story.

“I knew it needed to be covered. This was something that I had never heard of happening in Albany. I knew it was bad.”

Lorey is the local journalist behind the Fulton County Area News Facebook page. He rarely covers Albany.

“But this was huge, so I took a ride down.”

And for three hours on Saturday night he went live on Facebook. The video has had more than 1 million views.

It is basically a first hand account of what Lorey was witnessing as police in Albany tried to disperse massive crowds that had gathered along South Pearl Street after earlier peaceful protests were replaced by acts of destruction.

“Later on, I did see some legitimate protesting. But the majority of this was violence,” he said.

Shooting with just his cellphone, he captured what was going on and broadcast it live.

Viewers saw images of a tractor trailer being set ablaze while the driver runs off scared. Windows of businesses and a county office smashed. Dumpsters set on fire. People hurling objects at police, and one man firing off roman candles into a line of officers.

They also watched and commented as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to force the large crowds to disperse.

Lorey could be heard choking on the tear gas during his broadcast and told viewers how it felt when he was struck in the leg by a rubber bullet.

“For the most part, people really left me alone. I don’t feel like anything was being launched at me. In fact, some people even helped me during that video. Some of the residents in that South Pearl Street neighborhood even offering me water. You could see that people were upset that this was happening. They were upset to see the violence.”

When asked for his thoughts on the police action, Lorey said, “That stuff was absolutely necessary. And they did their job, and they did it well. And, you know, thanks to the guy that shot me. I want to say, ‘thanks’ to him because he did his job. He didn’t know who I was. They were doing what they needed to do to clear that neighborhood and that needed to be done.”

He says he feels that people needed to see what was going on as it was unfolding.

“I would go back. I would do it again. This absolutely needed to be seen. People in Albany needed to see this. People around Albany needed to see this.”