NBC4's NewsChopper Went Down in a Chatsworth Storage Lot While Covering a Deadly Bus Crash. Reporter Eliana Moreno, Pilot George Marciniw and a Pedestrian Died. 'We Lost Five Angelenos Today.'

A news helicopter flying for NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo 52 crashed into a self-storage lot in Chatsworth just before 7 p.m. Tuesday, killing the two people aboard and a pedestrian on the ground. The aircraft had been hovering over the San Fernando Valley to cover a separate crash between a Los Angeles Metro bus and an SUV that had already killed two people earlier in the evening.

The dead aboard the helicopter were identified as Eliana Moreno, the aerial reporter whose voice viewers knew from years of NBC4 and Telemundo coverage, and pilot George Marciniw. Both worked for Angel City Air, the aerial production company that operates NewsChopper 4 for the station. A third person was found dead outside the aircraft, and two more were taken to hospitals, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash of a Eurocopter AS 350 B2 in the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue and that its investigators would arrive Wednesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Los Angeles Police Department are also involved.

The helicopter came down on top of two shipping containers and a row of parked vehicles wedged between commercial buildings, and it burst into flames on impact. "It was one of the most violent fires I had ever seen," said Zareh Sevanesian, who witnessed the crash. Firefighters put out the blaze and cordoned off the lot as the sun went down. Another witness told NBC4 the aircraft "came just straight down."

The chain of events began at 5:03 p.m., when a Metro bus and a passenger vehicle collided on Nordhoff Street. Two people died in that crash and several bus passengers were hurt, with firefighters working to free people who were trapped. NewsChopper 4 was one of the aircraft circling the scene when it went down roughly two hours later, about a mile away.

"This is a very, very tragic day in Los Angeles," Mayor Karen Bass said at a late-night briefing. "We lost five Angelenos today, and my heart certainly goes out to the family and friends of all of those that we lost." Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that "our hearts are with the victims and families of tonight's devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth."

Moreno, who was in her late 30s, was born in Orange County and graduated from Chapman University in 2010 with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science. She joined Angel City Air's helicopter team that September and had reported for several Southern California outlets, including a stint at CBS Los Angeles, before becoming a fixture of NBC4's aerial coverage. Marciniw was a Southern California native and a 1974 graduate of Burbank High School. The two had been flying together since 2023.

The station's anchors learned of the crash while on the air. "We're going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, to process and to regroup," anchor Colleen Williams told viewers. Her co-anchor Lynette Romero said Wednesday morning that "they were both doing what they loved so much and for me, that's comfort in knowing how happy they were." The NTSB has not said what caused the aircraft to fall, and a preliminary report typically takes several weeks.