Three killed in Chatsworth news helicopter crash, victims identified
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County medical examiner's office has identified the three people killed when a news helicopter crashed into a commercial building parking lot in Chatsworth on Tuesday evening, a tragedy that has shaken the San Fernando Valley community.
Reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were killed aboard the helicopter, which is operated by Angel City Air and provided aerial news coverage for NBC4 and its Spanish-language sister station, Telemundo 52.
The third person who died was identified as Edy Gutierrez Mejia, a 29-year-old man believed to have been in the business parking lot near where the chopper came down.
Crash scene
The crash of the helicopter, designated NewsChopper4, occurred just before 7 p.m. between two commercial buildings at 9151 Mason Avenue, near Nordhoff Street, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.
The helicopter crash ignited a fire that exposed four vehicles, according to Jennifer Middleton of the LAFD. The fire was extinguished, but four automobiles and two storage containers were damaged.
Moreno and Marciniw were on assignment covering the collision between an SUV and a Metro bus that left three dead near the site of the helicopter crash, a double tragedy that has stunned local officials and residents.
A worker at a warehouse near the site who was in the parking lot at the time of the crash was taken to a hospital. He was described as "shaken up more emotionally than physically."