Southern California's newest feathered friend made its debut Tuesday morning at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

Lily, a Magellanic penguin chick, was born at the aquarium on June 5 and joined the other penguins in the June Keyes Penguin Habitat after spending about two months in a nursery.

"She was a little reluctant to go swimming, but in the end she did and she seems to be enjoying herself," said Adrian Samora, a media relations coordinator at the aquarium.

Magellanic penguins, which are native to the coasts of Argentina and Chile, are not born with plumage suitable for water, so they are removed from their nests after 25 days and taken to a nursery until their watertight feathers come in. While they are in the nursery, they learn to swim and eat hand-fed fish, aquarium representatives said.

Lily, who represents the third generation of Aquarium-born penguins, is the seventh penguin to be born at the aquarium since 2013 and the 20th penguin to join the exhibit. Samora said she is slightly large for a baby and is eating whole fish.

Community members can support the new chick through the Adopt an Animal program.

Investigators released dramatic video showing an South Florida automotive shop owner turning the tables on an armed robber during a scuffle and frightening shootout that ended with both men wounded by gunfire.

Andrew Hepburn was sitting in the office of CAD Auto Parts in Oakland Park just before 1 p.m. Monday when the two gunmen entered, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.

One of the gunmen, later identified as 36-year-old Conrad Bloomfield, ordered the 39-year-old Hepburn to the ground face-down and pistol whipped him, officials said.

Bloomfield tried to put Hepburn's hands behind him him but when Bloomfield became distracted by his accomplice, Hepburn grabbed at his legs and they began to fight, said Dani Moshella with BSO.

During the fight, Hepburn got Bloomfield's gun and shot him repeatedly. The second gunman then shot at Hepburn from outside the office, and one bullet went through a wall and hit Hepburn. Surveillance video released Tuesday shows the violent encounter. 

The accomplice ran away from the scene, and a witness who was there also ran away, officials said.

Hepburn and Bloomfield were both taken to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment for gunshot wounds. Hepburn was doing well, but Bloomfield was listed in critical condition.

Detectives are looking for the accomplice, who fled the scene in a dark grey late model BMW. Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

An Escondido man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of government property from Camp Pendleton.

James Dean Salmon, a former civilian contractor to Camp Pendleton, admitted in court to reporting functioning equipment used in his job as broken or unrepairable. Once he received new equipment he would claim to have installed it, and steal the new gear.

During a search warrant, officers recovered a large amount of the stolen property.

Over the course of four years, December 2007 through August 2011, Salmon stole $27,362.68 in equipment.

Salmon could face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He is scheduled to be sentenced November 16.

After 37 years with few answers, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) detectives may finally have a break – and a person of interest – in the brutal cold case of a 15-year-old girl killed and mutilated on a beach.

On Tuesday, SDPD Lt. Manuel Del Toro and other investigators met with loved ones of murder victim Barbara Nantais to give an update on her decades-old cold case.

At the two-hour meeting – attended by Nantais’ older sister Lorraine Nantais Thall, Nantais’ then-boyfriend James Alt and Rick Selga, the man who found the teen’s body on the beach – the group was told cold case detectives have a person of interest in connection with the case, Thall confirmed to NBC 7.

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On Aug. 13, 1978, Nantais and her boyfriend, Alt, were sleeping on the sand at Torrey Pines State Beach when they were attacked by an unknown suspect or suspects.

Nantais was beaten and strangled to death, raped and one of her breasts was severed. The teenager’s killer was never found and, to this day, the murder remains unsolved.

Alt survived the violent attack, but suffered a severe head wound that left him semi-conscious with no recollection of the assault. Alt has told NBC 7 that to this day, the murder haunts him.

Today, Alt lives with depression and post-traumatic stress caused by the incident. He said the pain of not knowing who killed Nantais or why weighs heavily on him.

He carries a titanium plate in his forehead. His skull was crushed with a rock and fire log during the 1978 attack.

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“That same person tried to kill me,” he told NBC 7 in an interview a few weeks ago. “They did a really good job of trying, but guess what – I am living, breathing and right here.”

As the 37th anniversary of the slaying loomed, Alt said he planned to meet with SDPD detectives.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, a frustrated Alt told NBC 7 he was hoping detectives would tell him the department had decided to turn the cold case over to another law enforcement agency.

“I hope to hear that they’re going to let another entity handle this case,” said Alt, adding that he’s discouraged by the SDPD’s handling of the case and the length of time it has remained unsolved.

Heading into the meeting, Nantais’ sister echoed Alt’s frustration.

“It’s been frustrating because we feel that there was an initial push to solve the case the first few years and as the years went by and the case got colder and colder, it fell off their radar,” Thall told NBC 7.

Selga – the man who found Nantais’ slain body on that day in 1978 – was also there to support the family and get his own peace of mind.

“I’d like to hear the police become willing to ultimately solve this for the family and Jim,” said Selga.

He admitted the crime has stayed with him to this day.

“It’s something that hasn’t left me. I feel it. Especially this time of year – every August I feel heavy-hearted. It comes back every year for me,” Selga told NBC 7. “I’m very emotional about it. I’ve been hiding from it for years.”

Media was not allowed inside the meeting, so further details were not immediately disclosed by officials.

Afterwards, Alt said several lead investigators as well as SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman were at the meeting and he, along with Thall and Selga, felt a sense of hope and progress for the first time in a long time.

"We felt like we were heard for sure this time," Alt told NBC 7.

Thall also felt a sense of renewed committment by investigators to her sister's cold case.

"I'm encouraged. [The Chief] wants fresh eyes looking at the case," Thall explained. "They are interviewing someone of interest. I'm not allowed to say who, but it's encouraging and the person is at the top of their list. It's someone who has been on the radar before."

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NBC 7 reached out to Lt. Del Toro for comment, but we have not yet heard back.

In 2013, SDPD Lt. Ernie Herbert told NBC 7 Nantais’ case was being reviewed, as there had been huge advances in DNA technology. Detectives planned to re-interview witnesses and use new, high-tech science in hopes of generating new leads.

In late July, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis spoke with NBC 7 about the relentless work of the SDPD's Cold Case Unit. Since its formation in 2003, Dumanis said the unit has solved and prosecuted 35 cold cases.
 

This school year, parents could see more credentialed interns teaching classes as the nation deals with a widespread teacher shortage, according to National University.

The university, which recommends more people for credentials than any other university or college in the state, said schools are hiring more people with “intern credentials,” which means they are teaching while getting their licenses.

Dr. Judy Mantle, the dean of National University’s School of Education, said the idea of this kind of “on the job training” is not new, but the university has seen a spike in the number of credentialed interns in the classroom.
 
The rise comes, she said, as a teacher shortage takes its toll on districts across the country. Statewide, there are 22,500 teachers needed for this school year.

“It’s very significant, I think, because we’re finally coming to a place in history where we’ve talked about the possibility of a teacher shortage, baby boomers on the cusp of retirement, etc. We are now here,” said Mantle.

She said the problem is particularly dire in Clark County, Nevada, where the district is short 1,000 teachers as school begins.

San Diego Unified School District is working to get information about the number of teachers it has to start the school year. A spokesperson said anecdotally, the district does not foresee a problem since it hired teachers early in the year.
 

A Southern California family on vacation in Mexico came under heavy gunfire by a group of armed men as they left a water park, leaving one of them dead and three others wounded, family members said.

Two teenage brothers, who are graduates of Channel Islands High School in Oxnard, their father and uncle were driving from the park in Michoacan on July 31 when gunmen in another vehicle pulled up in front of them and opened fire, family members said.

Graphic photos published by Mexican newspaper Quadratin showed the SUV riddled with bullet holes and the family inside slumping and covered in blood.

The uncle did not survive.

Both brothers suffered wounds to the head and body, and the father was struck multiple times. All three were taken to a San Diego hospital.

One of the brothers, 18-year-old Bruno Ramos, was in stable condition after arriving in a coma, family members said.

His older brother, 19-year-old Jesus Ramos, and their father, Ignacio Ramos, were treated and released.

Family members believe they were attacked by members of a drug cartel.

"We think there was some confusion," said the teens' cousin, Sonya Martinez Lazarraga, in Spanish. "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Six San Diego County high schools made Newsweek’s newly released list of the top 500 high schools in the United States.

The ranking took into account a variety of factors, including average SAT scores, average AP scores, ACT scores, graduation rates, counselor-student ratio and college-bound percentages.

The ranking also considers schools that help low-income students score at our above average on state assessments.

River Valley Charter in Lakeside ranked the highest locally at No. 94, with a 100 percent graduation rate and an 84.7 percent college readiness rate.

Trailing close behind was Westview High School in Torrey Highlands near Rancho Penasquitos, with very similar graduation and college readiness rates.

Canyon Crest Academy in Carmel Valley was ranked at No. 117. The school’s average SAT score is 1904 and the graduation rate is listed at 100 percent. Earlier this year, the school made headlines for beating the world record for the largest group hug in a school library.

With an 81.2 percent college readiness rate, Del Norte High School ranked at No. 209. The Black Mountain Ranch school near Rancho Bernardo also has a 99.7 percent graduation rate.

Finally, Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar ranked at No. 336 and Classical Academy High School in Escondido came in at No. 493.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the mysterious case of a man found shot to death at Morley Field in Balboa Park, San Diego police confirmed Wednesday.

According to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), detectives are looking for leads in the killing of 44-year-old Victorino Bacuetes, who was found dead just after 7 a.m. Sunday near baseball field No. 3 and the Veldrome at Morley Field.

The victim had suffered a gunshot wound to his upper body.

Investigators believe Bacuetes was shot to death sometime between the night of Aug. 15 and the morning of Aug. 16, though his killer’s identity remains unknown.

Detectives are now seeking witnesses and any information on the background and associates of Bacuetes. A motive for the shooting has not yet been determined.

The police department released a photo of Bacuetes Wednesday in an effort to generate more information.

As the investigation continues, anyone with information on this case should contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or the San Diego County Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.
 

The company that once benefited from Jared Fogle's weight loss story will now need to figure out how to erase him from the brand completely.

Fogle pleaded guilty to allegations that he paid for sex acts with minors and received child pornography. While these allegations have nothing to do with Subway's food or prices, the association of the company's name with these crimes come at a rough juncture for the fast-food chain. 

"For a while, when you see a Subway ad, you're going to think about that child pornography charge," said Allen Adamson of the brand consulting firm Landor Associates.

The University of Cincinnati Police Department has resumed patrols in neighborhoods surrounding the school's campus, one month after a department officer shot and killed an unarmed black motorist, NBC News reported.

On June 19, then-Officer Ray Tensing fatally shot Samuel DuBose, 43, during an off-campus traffic stop. Tensing has since been charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter and fired from his position.

After the shooting, University President Santa Ono voluntarily suspended off-campus patrols while promising an in-depth examination of department.

The decision to resume patrols coincides with the start of the fall semester — timing both the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Police Department said is not coincidental.

An annual fundraiser breakfast was held in San Diego Wednesday to officially kick off the upcoming 2015 Making Strides of San Diego walk in the fight against breast cancer.

NBC 7’s Anchor Catherine Garcia emceed the event at the Town & Country Resort in Mission Valley.
The hour-long fundraiser was held in hopes of inspiring those in attendance to get involved in the fight against breast cancer.

Breast cancer survivors and friends and family of people diagnosed with the disease will participate in the  San Diego Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in October.

Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in women in the U.S. and it’s the second leading cause of cancer death.

Making Strides for Breast Cancer honors survivors and remembers those who lost their lives to the disease.

The Making Strides of San Diego walk will be held on Oct. 18, beginning at 8 a.m. at the corner of 6th Avenue and Laurel St. in Balboa Park.

For more information or to sign up your team, you can visit this website.

NBC 7 is a proud sponsor of Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in San Diego.
 

Cohn Restaurant Group recently opened Coasterra, the San Diego-based company’s new $15 million venue at Harbor Island.

Operators said the 28,000-square-foot restaurant has a special-event and banquet center that seats more than 300 and will soon have an outdoor floating deck that will accommodate up to 500, with views of the San Diego skyline.

The venue serves Mexican cuisine and is led by partner and Chef Deborah Scott and Executive Chef John Gray. Cohn partnered on development of the project with locally based Sunroad Enterprises, on the site that formerly housed the Reuben E. Lee paddleboat restaurant at 880 Harbor Island Drive.

In development for nearly a decade, the restaurant was designed by the late local architect Graham Downes. Operators said the name Coasterra is a fusion of two Spanish words that translate to “coast” and “land.”

Headquartered in Old Town, Cohn Restaurant Group was started in 1982 and is led by David and Lesley Cohn. The company now owns and operates 21 restaurants in Southern California and two in Hawaii.
 

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In the latest battle over when and where drones should be allowed to fly, a Carlsbad man is facing felony charges, accused of damaging a drone he felt was flying too close on a San Diego County beach.

"I feel wronged. I've been violated," Augustine Lehecka told NBC7.

Lehecka spent Sunday at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. At one point, he says he noticed a drone with a camera mounted to it flying over the crowd.

"I almost felt like I was being watched by a peeping Tom," he said.

Lehecka says he also worried about the safety of his group because there were small children involved.

He says when the drone flew near enough to them, he took off his shirt, and threw it. The shirt got caught in the quad-copter's blades and brought it to the ground.

"The drone fell to the ground and I considered it a closed case," said Lehecka, but it wasn't over.

Someone called San Diego County sheriff's deputies and Lehecka was arrested 10 minutes later. He spent the night in jail and is now facing felony vandalism charges.

The pilot of the drone, who spoke with NBC 7 on the condition the station not use his name, released part of the video from Sunday. The video is shot from high above the crowd and the pilot claims Lehecka called him a pervert.

"You can clearly see that I was not invading anybody's privacy. I was just flying around the park," said the pilot.

The pilot says he recorded the drone being hit by the shirt, but is not releasing that part of the video for now. He claims Lehecka attacked the drone as it was landing just a few feet off the sand.

The pilot also says he relies on the drone for his work.

"He did $750 in damage to my quad copter, and that's my livelihood," said the pilot. "I'm in a world of hurt right now. I really am."

Right now, there is no law in California against flying drones in public places like a beach.

This week, lawmakers in Sacramento discussed a proposal to ban drones near emergency situations like wildfires. This follows multiple incidents around the state where aircraft had to be grounded during firefighting efforts because drones were spotted in the airspace. If that law passes, it could mean fines of up to $1,000 and possible jail time for anyone who interferes with first responders.

That law would not affect public places where there is no emergency, leaving what happened over the weekend in the gray area of the discussion on how to regulate drones.

Lehecka is scheduled to be arraigned on felony vandalism charges later in August. He said he plans to bring the issue to trial if necessary.

"I believe this may be the defining moment about flights over people," he said.

The pilot, on the other hand, says this particular incident could be ended much easier.

"Just pay for it so I can get back to work," said the pilot. "That's all I want."

More than 10 months have passed since a Navy wife and mother of two vanished from her home in San Diego, and police say she is still missing.

The San Diego Police Department re-released a missing person flyer on Wednesday asking the public for any information on the whereabouts of Elizabeth Sullivan, 32.

Sullivan was last seen around 10 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2014, near her home in the Liberty Station area about four miles from downtown San Diego. Her vehicle was found at home.

Just days after she was reported missing, police said Sullivan was reportedly spotted at the soccer fields at Liberty Station and near the San Diego International Airport.

Those leads never panned out to be more than reported sightings, however, and Sullivan’s family has not had contact with her for nearly a year now, according to investigators.

A text message on Oct. 13, 2014, was the last contact she’s had with loved ones. After that, her phone was turned off.

Investigators describe Sullivan as an African American woman who stands at 5-foot-3 and weighs 128 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has been known to also go by the names Liz Sullivan; Elizabeth Ricks; Liz Ricks; Edie Salander; Edith Salander and Evie Salander.

Sullivan is married to Navy service member Matthew Sullivan. Together the couple has two young daughters.

The missing woman’s father, Edward Ricks, traveled from his home in Virginia to San Diego after his daughter’s disappearance last year hoping to find her.

At that time, Ricks told NBC 7 the case was a mystery that had left the family in a lot of pain.

“If in any way she hears this and can get to a telephone or in some way reach out to me, we will come and get her, and that's what I want her to know,” Ricks said.

“It can happen to you. When it does, it gets very personal, and it takes on a whole new light when it happens to you," he added. "You get strength like you never had before because that's my daughter and I'm bringing her home.”

The SDPD said the family is looking for anyone who has made contact with Sullivan either in person, on social media or on other websites.

Anyone with information on this case should contact the SDPD’s Missing Persons Section at (619) 531-2277, Det. Maura Parga at (619) 531-2390 or Det. Kim Collier at (619) 531-2585. The case number tipsters should refer to is 14-041996.
 

Officials identified the fifth man killed Sunday when a Sabreliner on a training flight for the U.S. military collided midair with a civilian plane.

James Henry Hale, 66, of Adelanto, California was the co-pilot of the Sabreliner according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Hale was one of four people in the Sabreliner that was under contract with the U.S. military when it collided with a Cessna 172 just north of Brown Field Municipal Airport.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating what caused the two planes to collide.

The force of the crash sent debris flying over more than a mile of land in a nature preserve. No one on the ground was injured but there were no survivors from the aircraft involved.

The Cessna pilot was Michael A. Copeland, 55, a Qualcomm executive who had a passion for flying.

"It was his passion. I think he would have been glad to go out this way no matter how tragic. He loved to be up there in the sky," his wife, Kathi, wrote in a Facebook post.

She told NBC 7 Copeland was practicing "touch and go's" before the incident.

Carlos Palos, John Kovach and Jeff Percy were identified Monday as three of the four victims on the Sabrelienr, according to their employer BAE Systems.

NTSB Investigator in Charge Andrew Swick said the Sabreliner was inbound for landing at Brown Field Municipal Airport at the time of the incident.

Wing marks indicate the two planes may have collided at the wing, Swick said.

Two suspects accused in a string of mail thefts in Fallbrook were caught red-handed Tuesday – one suspect with her hand inside a mailbox, investigators said.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said Riverside residents Katlyn Seibert, 22, and Nathan Bonds, 28, were arrested just after 4 p.m. in the 2400 block of East Mission Road in Fallbrook.

Throughout the day, deputies had received several calls regarding the suspects inside a small, silver sedan approaching mailboxes in the area.

A patrol deputy was driving when he saw the suspects’ vehicle parked in front of some mailboxes. Officials said Seibert had her hand out of the passenger side window and inside a mailbox.

When the deputy approached the pair, they initially lied about their names. Once officials identified them and looked into their background, investigators discovered Seibert and Bonds had stolen mail from numerous locations in Fallbrook and other parts of Southern California, the sheriff’s department said.

According to investigators, Seibert and Bonds were in possession of personal identifying information of at least 36 people, with the count still rising.

The duo was arrested on charges of theft of more than 10 identities with intent to defraud, plus providing false identity to deputies. They were booked into Vista Detention Facility in San Diego’s North County and are slated to appear in court Thursday.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information on this case or anyone who believes they were a victim of mail theft in this case should reach out to the Fallbrook Sheriff’s Station at (760) 451-3100.
 

One person was arrested and another escaped custody following a high-speed police pursuit in Barrio Logan Wednesday.

San Diego Police say one of its officers tried to stop a driver for making an illegal turn on Dalbergia Street just before 10 a.m.

The driver failed to stop and drove northbound on 32nd Street toward southbound Interstate 15.

Officers say the car was ditched on 37th Street south of Imperial Avenue.

One person was taken into custody. A passenger in the vehicle was not apprehended, police said.

No one was injured.
 

St. Louis police arrested nine people and deployed tear gas to break up protests that followed the police killing of an 18-year-old man who authorities say pointed a gun at two officers.

Protesters threw glass bottles and bricks at officers and refused to clear the roadway, Chief Sam Dotson told reporters late Wednesday.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the protests occurred in the Fountain Park neighborhood, where the shooting occurred.

Police said two officers were executing a search warrant at a home in a crime-plagued neighborhood on Wednesday when two armed men fled out the back.

The officers shot Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, after he turned and pointed a gun at them, police said. The second suspect fled, they said. The officers were white; Bell-Bey and the other suspect were black, police said.

A man was found lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the stomach Wednesday evening, according to El Cajon police.

The shooting happened in the 900 block of Peach Avenue in El Cajon at 7:15 p.m. near the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Police said witnesses reported seeing a suspect run into a home nearby.

Officers spread out through the neighborhood to search for the suspect, but by 9:30 p.m., there was still no sign of the person. Police blocked off the parking lot at the Tierra Del Sol Apartments as they investigated the crime.

The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was set to undergo surgery. However, he died shortly thereafter, officials said.

According to witnesses, the victim and suspect got into some sort of verbal argument before shots rang out.

Neighbor Paul Brown told NBC 7 he heard three gunshots. He said the shooting is very worrisome for residents, especially since the suspect was not immediately caught.

“If he has the nerve to do that, he can do it again,” said Brown. “They need to catch him. They need to catch him.”

El Cajon police said the only suspect description they have – at least so far – is that the shooter was a heavy-set man wearing dark clothing.

The name of the victim has not yet been released by investigators, pending the notification of his family.