A mourning Los Angeles community united by a tragedy came together to pay tribute to those killed in the horrible chain of events that unfolded on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
An NBC4 helicopter crashed in Chatsworth<\/a> after its crew was covering a separate incident just a few blocks away where a woman is accused of slamming her SUV into a Metro bus<\/a>.<\/p>\n Three people were killed in the helicopter crash while two others died in the bus crash.<\/p>\n At Whiteman Airport, where the NBC4 crew used to fly in and out of on a regular basis, community members have left heartfelt notes, flowers, candles and more in memory of reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw who died in the crash.<\/p>\n One poignant note reads, “Eliana and George, fly high.”<\/p>\n “It’s something that we need – we need to remember both George and Eliana’s legacies that they are leaving,” said Anthony Sarabia, a Culver City resident who came to the airport to pay respects.<\/p>\n “It’s bittersweet. It hurts that we are gathering for this, but it also brings joy because we know the impact she had on Angelenos and the people that watched her probably across the country,” Sarabia added.<\/p>\n A third person, who was on the ground, was also killed when the helicopter crashed. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office identified that victim as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia.<\/p>\n Gutierrez Mejia reportedly arrived in L.A. on Tuesday to meet up with a cousin to pick up several cars and transfer them back to Guatemala. He was married and the oldest of three children.<\/p>\n The county medical examiner on Wednesday identified the bus crash victims as Daniel Castillo, 46, who died on the bus and Gage Weida, 31, who died on the street nearby, having apparently been thrown from the bus during the collision.<\/p>\n Hundreds of people packed the plaza at St. John Eudes Parish in Chatsworth Thursday evening for a vigil honoring all five victims of the tragedies.<\/p>\n Family, friends and community members lit candles, shed tears and shared memories of the five people who lost their lives in Tuesday’s heartbreaking chain of events.<\/p>\n Autumn Reiff lost her boyfriend Gage Weida.<\/p>\n “He was everything, he was everything,” Reiff said. The 31-year-old was on his way to work at Buffalo Wild Wings when he was thrown from the bus and died<\/p>\n “He was very patient, very kind with everyone. He had a very good heart,” said Iliana Rodriguez, Weida’s friend.<\/p>\n Our sister station, KABC-TV, captured the heartfelt exchange between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Castillo’s family at the vigil.<\/p>\n “He was coming home from work, he had just got on the bus,” Castillo’s family member said. The 46-year-old father of four never made it home.<\/p>\n “He was loved by everybody, he loved everybody. He was all about family, his family was everything to him,” said Castillo’s relative, Francis Sandoval.<\/p>\n Bass said, “It’s just such a tragedy and I just want the families to know that the entire city grieves with them.”<\/p>\n The tragic helicopter crash happened Tuesday evening along Mason Avenue, where the helicopter crashed between two commercial buildings around 7 p.m. NBC4 confirmed on air shortly before 9 p.m. that the aircraft that crashed was the station’s helicopter.<\/p>\n The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the case and said the video from aboard the NBC4 helicopter before the deadly crash is the “most important evidence”<\/a> for the agency’s investigators to analyze in order to piece together the probable cause of the accident.<\/p>\n “In that recording, we are clearly hearing sounds that are consistent with the engine changing its speed and we’re also hearing tones that are being generated that are likely advisories to the pilot, so it’s important that we get that recording to our lab, so that they can be downloaded and we can get to that factual evidence that way,”\u00a0said Fabian Salazar, NTSB Investigator in Charge.<\/p>\n Investigators were seen Thursday morning photographing parts of the wreckage. Crews began slowly removing the wreckage where the helicopter went down.<\/p>\n Salazar said the NTSB’s plan of action is to gather as much data from the wreckage scene as possible and conduct witness interviews. He urged the public to reach out to the agency if they have any relevant information about the incident. The email provided was\u00a0witness@ntsb.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 KABC Television, LLC. 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