Hundreds gather to mourn victims of deadly Chatsworth SUV-bus collision and news-copter crash

Hundreds of friends, family and coworkers gathered at St. John Eudes Parish, in Chatsworth, on Thursday evening, Sept. 17, to mourn the lives lost in the community mere blocks away during this week’s twin tragedies — the NBC4 helicopter crash that killed three people when the news team’s aircraft fell to Earth while covering an SUV’s deadly collision with an L.A. Metro bus.

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Earlier Thursday, federal investigators continued to collect evidence at the scene, working to determine what caused the crash that killed reporter Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw, 70, who were aboard the helicopter, operated by Angel City Air, providing news coverage for NBC4 and its Spanish-language sister station, Telemundo 52.  A bystander, Edy Gutierrez Mejia, 29, was killed on the ground, according to the county medical examiner’s office.

Thursday’s vigil at St. John Eudes Parish, a Catholic Church, also honored the pair killed in the SUV-bus collision that drew the helicopter to the scene: Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31. Castillo died on the bus, while Weida died on the street nearby, having apparently been thrown from the bus during the collision.

Mourners gathered in the church’s courtyard holding candles and listening to folks expressing their empathy and sharing memories.

“My heart is with the families whose lives changed forever Tuesday night,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “We mourn the loss of Eliana, George, Edy, Gage and Daniel. And we pray for speedy recovery for those injured in this horrific bus accident. Our hearts are with the entire NBC and Telemundo 52 family. I want to take a moment and recognize the important role of journalists and first responders who are on the front lines of traumatic incidents like this all the time. They run toward the danger, to save lives, and keep the city safe and informed. It’s just such a tragedy and I just want the families to know that the entire city grieves with them.”

Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chaplain Kevin Smith gave an invocation and prayed for the families of those who died Tuesday.

“There is no other time when a community is as much needed,” he said as hundreds of people linked arms, bowing their heads in prayer.

A choir sang hymns while Bass began the lighting of the candles. Slowly, each person turned, lighting their neighbor’s candle with their own until the courtyard glittered with candlelight.

A table in the back of the courtyard held photos of those who died and attendees had the opportunity to leave messages for each.

The crash of NewsChopper4 occurred just before 7 p.m. Tuesday between two commercial buildings at 9151 Mason Ave., near Nordhoff Street, in the San Fernando Valley community, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

An impromptu memorial to the crash victims also continued growing Thursday at Pacoima’s Whiteman Airport, where the Angel City Air copter was based. People left flowers, candles, signs and cards along an airport fence, some pausing to pray or chat with other mourners.

“In Loving Memory,” read one sign taped to the fence, “Eliana and George, Fly High!”

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Frank Bagheri, a pilot and commander of the local civil air patrol squadron, said the aviation community is a small, tight group.

He described Moreno as an “amazing person” and “among the best at what she did.”

She was ever upbeat, he added.

“Eliana was always speed-walking around the airport,” Bagheri said. “She always had a smile on her face.”

Bagheri described Marciniw as “the nicest guy” — who was all about aviation.

“He loved to talk about flying,” he said. “We would talk about flying and the weather and how the conditions are.”

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Erica Ramos came to the airport to leave a bouquet, walking from her home just down the street. She didn’t know the pair, but watched their work on TV and often saw news choppers flying in and out of the airport.

“It’s so sad. It’s a tremendous loss. It’s so tragic,” she said. “It should remind us to show our love for our loved ones every day.”

Federal investigators could be seen Thursday supervising the removal of the pieces of the helicopter from the crash site. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said they expected the probe to be a monthslong process.

At a Wednesday afternoon news briefing near the crash scene, NTSB investigator-in-charge Fabian Salazar said video from the cockpit of the doomed Airbus AS350 B2 helicopter would likely be the most important piece of evidence in the investigation, since it captured changes in the chopper’s engine speed and a warning signal being sounded.

The video, posted online, shows the camera zooming out, then several alarms — apparently indicative of an engine failure — can be heard as the chopper begins falling. Moreno can be heard saying, “You can’t pull up?” before the video goes black.

“What we are going to do is get a pristine copy of that recording and send it to our recorder’s lab for a sound spectrum analysis,” Salazar said. “Because 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.”

The helicopter is not believed to have been equipped with a flight data recorder, Salazar said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, meanwhile, announced Thursday that a woman accused of being high on drugs, driving at high speeds and slamming her SUV into the Metro bus would be charged with second-degree murder, DUI and reckless driving.

Bailee Rios of Simi Valley, 36, could face life in prison if convicted. Hochman called the crash a “preventable tragedy” caused by someone who chose to get behind the wheel while impaired.

As of Thursday afternoon, the charges had not yet been filed. Rios was expected to appear in court Friday for arraignment in San Fernando.

Family members of the two killed in the crash were hit hard by the news.

Weida’s father told various media outlets that his son was on his way to work when the crash occurred. Family members had been planning to come to the Southland this weekend to celebrate Weida’s upcoming birthday, the father said, but now they’re coming to make funeral arrangements.

“His mom, Rachael, and I, along with his brothers, sister and entire family, along with his longtime girlfriend, Autumn, are still processing the loss,” Jeffrey Weida told ABC7. “Gage will be missed by many from California to his hometowns with family and friends in Iowa, Tennessee and beyond. Our thoughts and prayers truly go out to all of the families involved. Tragic losses on so many fronts. We appreciate the first responders and all that were there assisting at his passing.”

Castillo was a father of four. His youngest daughter said the family is “devastatingly heartbroken by the loss of our beloved dad.”

On a GoFundMe page she created to assist the family, Johaunna Castillo wrote that her father was “truly an amazing person who had a way of bringing laughter and light into every room he walked into.”

SCNG photographer Hans Gutknecht and City News Service contributed to this report

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