A French-American professor who was hailed by President Francois Hollande for his "courage" was shot while trying to disarm a gunman wielding an AK-47 aboard a high-speed train, his wife said. 

Mark Moogalian, who is reportedly a 51-year-old academic originally from Midlothian, Virginia, spotted a suspicious passenger while traveling on the Amsterdam to Paris train Friday.

"My husband told me that he had seen someone strange because he had entered the toilets with his suitcase and it lasted a long time," Moogalian's wife Isabelle told Europe1 radio Monday. "A little while later the guy came out and that's when he saw that the guy was carrying a gun."

Moogalian was shot after he "rushed towards the gunman to remove ... the Kalashnikov." Isabelle credited Spencer Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman who had been traveling through Europe with two friends, for saving the life of the professor. The American trio and a British businessman stripped the suspect of an AK-47, pistol, a blade and a bag of ammunition.

The Sweetwater Valley Little League team will stay another day in Williamsport, PA., after winning their elimination game 10-3 over Rhode Island on Monday. 

The boys from Bonita tallied six runs in the top of the third inning to take a commanding 6-2 lead.

Jacob Baptista provides the clutch hit, smacking a grand slam moments after Nate Nankil and Walker Lannom each connected for RBI singles. 

The South Bay boys lost their previous game against Texas Sunday 8 - 4 to fall into the loser's bracket. It was the first loss for the Sweetwater Valley Little League All-Stars in the last 18 games they've played.

A team has to lose twice before they're eliminated from LLWS competition. As NBC7's Derek Togerson explained, even in the elimination game, the team had a good chance going into the game.

Sweetwater Valley plays again Tuesday at 5 p.m. against Bowling Green, Ky. This is a rematch from a few days ago, when the boys from Bonita won big time 14-2. This is another elimination game and if California wins, they play again on Wednesday in the semi finals. 

Back at home at a watch party at La Finca D’Adobe in Bonita Monday fans did more than just cheer. Dan Cannon pledged $250 per run. The team hit three, but since one was a grand slam he rounded the donation up to $1,500.

"I think there is probably, I'm not sure, there may be needs for some of the families on the trip,” said Cannon. “It’s very expensive and I hope some of that money can help go defray some costs."

“It costs about $15,000 per family to be out there right now,” Steve Eicher a local SVLL supporter told NBC7. “And it’s a lot of money so we’ve had a lot of good people step up."

Fans in Bonita say support for the team is coming from all areas of San Diego.

A Jersey Shore server's photo of a receipt with the letters “LOL” in place of a tip on a bill of more than $110 is drawing attention on social media, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Belmar 20-year-old Jess Jones posted a photo to Facebook of the receipt from the D’Jais Bar & Grill last week after being stiffed out of a tip on a $112 bill by a table of patrons who claimed they had to wait an hour for their food, the paper reports.

"Last night, I was stunned by this receipt that was left for me by a party of eight people," Jones wrote in the Facebook post. "I would have preferred a '$0' tip than a 'LOL' tip, but as a waitress, bad tips and harsh notes are all part of the job. Even though they did wait an hour to eat, they remained satisfied with filled drinks and proper notice that the kitchen was a bit busier than normal. I've worked in the service industry for five years and I take pride in providing great service to my customers." 

Jones said the customers' behavior wasn’t uncommon.

“I know how aggravating it is to receive a hefty bill when all night you've been wondering why the table that came in after you was served before you,” she wrote. “But waiters are mere messengers most of the time, and it's wrong to shoot them, however bad the news." 

The Asbury Park Press says that since it was posted online, the image of the receipt has gone viral, with Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty calling the lack of tip “ridiculous.” 

Hundreds of residents were allowed to return to their homes Monday afternoon after a wildfire that burned through 100 acres near a popular ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains forced evacuations a day earlier.

"It's a good feeling. It's back to reality and everything is going to be OK," resident Nikki Carson said. "They've got it under control, so thank you, firefighters."

At least 400 homes, many of them cabins and vacation houses, were threatened as crews increased containment of the fire burning near Snow Summit resort in Big Bear Lake, about 100 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Water cannons usually used for making snow were used to spray down ski slopes and keep burning embers from igniting dry brush on the resort property.

The resort can draw from Big Bear Lake as part of its operating permit and use that water for fire suppression.

The fire, burning in rugged terrain among standing dead trees, blackened 100 acres and was 50 percent contained Monday.

The resort was open for mountain biking and scenic ski-lift rides before closing for the fire that broke out Sunday afternoon. About 1,000 visitors were at Snow Summit when the fire started, according to resort officials.

All schools in the Bear Valley Unified School District will be closed again Tuesday with the exception of Fallsvale School, which was not affected by the air quality, district officials said.

Four years of drought have contributed to an active wildfire season in California, where more than 4,500 fires have been reported since the start of the year, according to CalFire. The agency reported 3,173 fires during that same period last year.

The state's five-year average for that timeframe is about 3,000 fires.

Tony Shin contributed to this report.

Consumers are shelling out more for a carton of large eggs as benchmark prices in California have gone up by 150 percent in a year.

Last August, a dozen large eggs cost $1.45 and a year later the price is $3.61 for the same carton, according to information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that one reason for the jump was an avian flu outbreak this spring that resulted in the killing of 48 million domestic chickens and turkeys, mostly in the Midwest.

In addition, California producers have to pay 20 cents more per dozen eggs for chicken feed because it's mostly shipped from the Midwest, said Ken Klippen, president of the National Association of Egg Farmers.

The rollout of Proposition 2, which requires that all eggs sold in California come from farms that allow chickens to move around freely, has also caused prices to soar, the newspaper reported.

Under the measure, each egg-laying hen must have 116 square inches of space, rather than the standard 67 inches of space in battery cages, resulting in the upgrading of farms and fewer hens overall.

"The costs of having to build new structures and new facilities were incurred by the egg farmers, and those costs have to get passed along," said John Segale, spokesman for the Association of California Egg Farmers.

California farmers produce roughly one-third to one-half of the eggs eaten in the state. Some larger farms in Iowa that raise hens according to Prop. 2 specifications for California have been shut down since the avian flu outbreak, said Klippen.

There is one bright spot for California's egg industry: Farmers who produce pasture-raised eggs have seen an increase in business, now that their $9 eggs no longer seem so expensive.

California produced 18 percent fewer eggs between May 2014 and May 2015, according to USDA statistics.

A former employee who alleged a "cover up" of student-on-student sexual misconduct at SD Unified will soon be heading to settlement talks with the district.

A September 24 date has been set for settlement negotiations in the suit brought by former school district investigator Michael Gurrieri. He was hired by SDUSD in March 2014 as a probationary internal investigator.

Gurrieri claims he uncovered a problem of student-on-student sexual assaults within the district as he was looking into an allegation at Green Elementary School in San Carlos.

In May 2013, parents of a kindergartener said their son was sexually assaulted by another kindergarten student in the boy's bathroom at Green Elementary. The parents were awarded $105,000 to settle a lawsuit in the case, and the district did not admit guilt.

When Gurrieri filed his report, he claims he was told to remove allegations of incidents of abuse in the school that the principal was aware of and didn't do anything about, according to his attorney.

Gurrieri was terminated from his job because he objected to the district's “cover- up,” his attorney claims.

The lawsuit originally named Superintendent Cindy Marten, Executive Director of the Quality Assurance Office Carmina Duran and the district's General Counsel Andra Donovan as defendants because the district cannot be sued in federal court under the claims of First Amendment violations.

A judge is considering a motion to remove Marten and Donovan that claims Gurrieri failed to prove he had a conversation with either Marten or Donovan regarding his report.

However, Gurrieri's attorneys say the judge has yet to make a final decision on whether Marten and Donovan will be defendants.

Duran did instruct Gurrieri to focus his report on one student's allegations, court documents show.

The district ended Gurrieri's employment in October 2014, court documents show. The district has said it will not comment on pending litigation.

Five vehicles caught fire Monday in Bay Ho and spread to nearby brush, San Diego Fire Rescue officials said.

Flames were reported near Ariane Drive and Morena Boulevard at approximately 4:30 a.m.

That’s where firefighters found the fire involving four cars and a trailer parked along the street.

Crews heard multiple explosions which may have been from the burning cars.

No one was injured.

Fire investigators are looking into the cause of the fire.
 

A 27-year-old mother and her two-month-old baby boy who were killed in a crash in Borrego Springs Thursday have been identified by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office.

Erendyra Fierro, 27, was driving a 2013 VW CC southbound on Borrego Springs Road south of San Pablo Road just before 4 p.m. with her one month and 24 day old son, Javier Salazar, in his car seat in the back. Another 51-year-old passenger was sitting in the front. 

CHP Officer Kevin Pearlstein said Fierro pulled onto the right shoulder and came to a stop. At the same time, a 60-year-old man was driving a 2001 Dodge Ram pickup southbound on Borrego Springs Road, approaching the area.

Just then, Fierro attempted a U-turn in her VW but did not see the Dodge approaching from behind.

CHP officials said the mother pulled directly into the path of the Dodge, and that driver had little time to react. He hit the brakes, but wasn’t able to stop before the front of the Dodge struck the left side of the VW.

The impact of the crash critically injured Fierro and she died at the scene. Salazar, her son, was badly injured as well and was airlifted to Rady Children’s Hospital. However, he died at the hospital less than two hours later, CHP officials confirmed.

The passenger in the VW suffered moderate injuries, while the driver of the Dodge sustained minor injuries. No other cars were involved in the fatal accident.

The crash is under investigation, but CHP officials said alcohol was not a factor. Investigators said the driver of the Dodge was traveling at 55 mph – the legal speed limit on Borrego Springs Road.

The infant was properly seated and strapped in a rear-facing car seat behind the driver’s seat in the VW, officials confirmed.

The mother and baby were residents of Borrego Springs, Pearlstein said, an unincorporated part of San Diego County.

Police have identified a suspect wanted for a shooting and the man he killed in El Cajon on Wednesday, police said.

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

Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Donald Ray Lewis, 40, of El Cajon, who they say is armed and dangerous. Police said witness testimony and surveillance video lead to them naming him as a suspect. His whereabouts are unknown at this time. 

Lewis is roughly 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 190 pounds with brown eyes, police said. They do not know what car he may be driving. 

The victim, identified as James Melvin Crawford Jr. of El Cajon, was found lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the stomach. He 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.”

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the El Cajon Police Department at (619) 579-3311 or remain anonymous and contact the Crime Stoppers tip line at (888) 580-8477.

The stock market whipped between nauseating drops and roaring comebacks on Monday in a historic day of turbulence, NBC News reported.

Seized by fears that the Chinese economy is not as healthy as it appeared to be, investors sold with abandon at the opening bell and sent the Dow Jones industrial average down almost 1,100 points, the biggest decline on record in a trading day.

Then the market staged a dramatic comeback and almost erased its losses, coming within about 115 points of break-even. By late afternoon, stocks were sinking again — and the Dow was down 588 points at the closing bell, a 3.58 percent rout. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index ended down 3.9 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished down 3.8 percent.

"The movements we've seen have been so fast and so large," Peter Costa, the president of the trading firm Empire Executions, said on CNBC. "It's been extremely fast, and it's happened very, very quickly."

A man died after his motorcycle collided with an SUV Monday in El Cerrito.

A Ford SUV was traveling northbound on 54th Street just north of El Cajon Boulevard when a Harley Davidson motorcycle ran a red light, San Diego Police said.

The two collided and the impact was strong enough to cause heavy damage to the front of the SUV.

The motorcyclist and his bike were sent in opposite directions. The man, described by officials as 49 years old, was declared dead at the scene shortly after the crash.

His personal belongings including a lunch bag were strewn all around the intersection.

Police say speed and alcohol or drugs were not factors in this incident.

The driver of the SUV remained on scene. He was visibly shaken and did not want to speak on camera.

Shay Thomas lives nearby and witnessed the crash. He said the motorcycle was going fast when he ran the red.

“He just flew out from the light,” Thomas said. “[The SUV driver] just couldn't avoid him.”

The intersection and streets in the surrounding the area were closed for several hours as investigators pieced together the tragic sequence of events.
 

 Several Vista homes were evacuated after a tree fell and ruptured a natural gas line in front of a flower shop in the area, officials said. 

The incident happened at 3:14 p.m. Monday in front of Bloom and Floral on the 2300 block of Bautista Avenue, where crews arrived on scene and found the leak. It was turned off at approximately 5:15 p.m. 

Sheriff's Department officials were on scene to assist with evacuations. Only those living in the surrounding areas were evacuated. Fire department officials were on scene to help shut off the leak.

Firefighters battling a spate of wildfires in the West will get a delivery from beer maker Anheuser-Busch this week, but the 12 ounce cans won't be filled with brew, they'll be filled with water, NBC News reported.

The maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck's and more is sending 2,156 cases of emergency drinking water — 51,744 cans — to Washington state in the coming days, Anheuser-Busch said in a statement Monday. The American Red Cross and Chelan County Public Works will distribute the cans to "communities most in need" in the Pacific Northwest, the statement said.

About 1,250 people are working to extinguish 16 wildfires in Washington alone, while California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado officials struggle to allocate limited resources as blazes ravage parts of those states.

It was supposed to be a book club outing, a day of bonding, wine and fun for 11 black women riding the popular Napa Valley Wine Train.

But the trip was unexpectedly cut short, they say, because they laughed too loudly.

Right after Antioch author Lisa Renee Johnson — one of the women from Saturday’s group who live-blogged the entire incident on Facebook as it kept unraveling — posted a photo of the women enjoying some reds, whites and appetizers, her next update was a photo of a woman she claims was annoyed by their laughter because the train was “not a bar.” The complaint resulted in the group getting kicked off the train.

"We were truly kicked out because we were 'laughing while back' ... It was racially charged," Johnson told NBC Bay Area Monday.

Johnson said Wine Train CEO Tony Giaccio had personally apologized to her Monday, but added that "it wasn't authentic."

"In order to solve the problem, you have to first admit there is one," she said. "They are apologizing for the bad experience, but not because of the role they played in the whole experience. They are not saying 'we are the bad actors.'"

Although the Wine Train refunded the group’s tickets, outrage is spreading fast on social media. "We are totally humilated," Johnson said, adding that the group is guilty of nothing except #LaughingWhileBlack, a hashtag that has caught on online, where people are reacting with both humor and anger.

"Laughing and eating cheese and grapes while Black. Damn, you're scary," Tonya Marie Amos wrote on Facebook.

"I'm white," tweeted @Theonlyadult. "I'll never get on your racist train. #laughingwhileblack"

A number of people are discussing a boycott of the Wine Train on Twitter, Facebook and Yelp, where the business has received some of its harshest criticism.

According to Johnson, at one point, the train’s maître d'hotel came by and asked the group to tone it down so that other passengers didn’t feel uncomfortable.

"Facebook Family, we have a problem!" Johnson wrote at 12:54 p.m. "We sipped wine, enjoyed each other's company but our trip is being cut short. We are a group of 12 ... if we all laugh at the same time it's loud! When we get to St. Helena they are putting us off the train."

Her next photo showed the book club members waiting to be escorted off the train. “We are in purgatory," her caption read.

When the train reached St. Helena, four police officers were waiting by the track. “WOW! They paraded us through 6 cars and none of us are even drunk ... the police were waiting,” Johnson wrote.

A Wine Train spokesperson confirmed their removal to the Napa Valley Register, saying that at least three passengers had complained about the noise level.

"If guests are being severely disruptive, that’s when we discuss whether they should be removed,"spokesperson Kira Devitt told the paper. “We don’t make that judgment unless we receive a complaint from the people around them.” Devitt said that the Wine Train management was looking into Saturday’s incident to see if employees had violated any policies.

Johnson said Giaccio identified areas of improvement during their conversation Monday. "He said 'this is not how we want the Wine Train to be portrayed,'" she said.

A Change.org petition is demanding an apology for the book club, the Sisters on the Reading Edge, whose members include an 83-year-old grandmother who was ejected from the train as well. Video footage shows some of the women crying as they leave the train.

"A trip which was to be an enjoyable day of sisterhood, turned into a day of humiliation,” the petitioner Toni Battle wrote. "To see an elder leaning on her cane by the train as if it's 1954 Alabama, spoke volumes regarding your business practices.“

A message on the Wine Train’s Facebook page Saturday that was later taken down said: “following verbal and physical abuse towards other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved. … When these celebrations impact our other guests, we do intervene."

Johnson told the Register that the group will decide whether to pursue a lawsuit or a civil rights campaign against the Wine Train. 

San Diego's oldest municipal pool, out of commission since it was shut down and drained in April for repairs and upgrades, now appears closer to re-opening.

North Park swimmers accustomed to using Bud Kearns Memorial Pool, a Morley Field landmark since 1933, have had to go miles away to cool off from an extra-hot summer.

The closure also has affected youth swimming and water polo teams, beginners' lessons and senior fitness programs.

"It's a disaster! This is something we all love and rely on,” nearby resident Laurie Macrae told NBC 7 in an interview Monday.

Estimates are, repairs and upgrades will cost upwards of $1 million for a complete overhaul.

“It really affects our quality of life in this neighborhood,” Kathy Taylor said in an interview Monday. “We all live here for the city resources, and this is one of them -- and we don't have it this year. And it's sad!"

There's been precious little progress -- a trench dug, with dirt piled alongside, for repair crews to start getting at clogged and corroded circulation pipes.

"They have not been hearing us,” Maggie Pinon said. “ Every time you call, you get a different message. I think they should stop giving us the runaround and fix the pool!"

The locals worried that the pool’s long stretch of disuse – which NBC 7 first reported in May -- wouldn't be more of an invitation to vandals and intruders.

Meantime, those who appreciate all the history surrounding the pool and aging clubhouse hope the complex won't be swept aside someday.

"When they first announced the pool would be closing, as a preservationist my first gut reaction was 'Uh-oh',” said Jaye MacAskill, an activitst with Save Our Heritage Organisation, “because this is how governments quietly close down historic buildings and allow them to deteriorate over time -- so they can construct a reason for not re-opening it."

Late Monday, after press secretaries for Mayor Faulconer and Councilman Todd Gloria had been notified that NBC 7 would be reporting on the issue again, a city spokesman emailed to say repairs on the pool will begin Tuesday and last about three weeks.

He added that county health officials will have to approve the water quality before the pool can be re-opened.

It was a wild day on Wall Street Monday.

At one point the Dow Jones Industrial dropped 1000 points ending up at a low of almost 600 points with the average at 16,459.

Many investors were clearly shaken, but how much does it affect you?

Sometimes the headlines are worse than the story. We hear about a brutal drop in stock prices and we begin to worry.

So whether you’ve got money in the stock market or not you need to pay attention because after the bark we could all get bitten.

Leo Gill watches three generations of his family pick raspberries and tomatoes through his Rancho Penasquitos backyard.

You won’t find the drama of the stock market here, but it’s still on Leo’s mind.

Retired from the Navy, he grew up during the Depression. Because of that experience Leo says he’s always tried to plan ahead.

“You need to save and put away and if you do then there’s some for you in the future,” Gill told NBC7.

Leo says he’ll weather today’s stock market plunge because he’s diversified his investments.

And since he retired he’s always tried to live within his means.

But even if you don’t have money in the stock market a drop like today could hurt everyone.

SDSU Marketing professor George Belch says even though the housing market is strong and interest rates low, it’s hard to predict how this current slide would impact regular folks like Leo Gill and his family.

“Clearly this can have a major impact on consumer confidence,” says Belch. “If consumer confidence gets shaken, that’s when consumers will all of a sudden tighten the wallet and we’re going to have potential economic downturn from that.”

Sometimes it’s how consumers view the economy and its future that is the real test whether those they're tied to the stock market or not. Clearly fears that China’s economy is slowing down helped drive the stock market dive.

“I don’t think we have a good reason to panic but we don’t know what’s going to happen over the next couple of months,” says Belch.

The Justice Department filed motions Monday calling bribery charges against Senator Robert Menendez "clear and unmistakable."

Prosecutors detailed additional information, provided by several current and former leading officials about the Senator’s efforts to help a Florida eye doctor who is accused of stealing millions from Medicare. In exchange, the FBI has said, the senator accepted numerous private jet trips from Dr. Salomon Melgen and then lied about having taken many of them.

In motions that pushed back against defense efforts to get the case dismissed, prosecutors detailed some statements given to the FBI by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

All three told the FBI they believed Menendez was contacting them to try and help the eye doctor with his Medicare problems.

"It was all about Dr. Melgen, the meeting," Sebelius told an FBI agent about why Menendez specifically met with her, according to Monday’s court filing.

And investigators said it was Reid who set up that meeting between Menendez and Sebelius "so that Senator Menendez would have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of Dr. Melgen," the agent told the grand jury.

Then-senator Harkin took a meeting with Menedez about Melgen but prosecutors said he told FBI agents "he felt that Dr. Melgen was, in fact, cheating Medicare."

But the Menendez team said grand jurors never heard from the officials directly, only from the FBI interview summaries. "The grand jury never heard from the Cabinet officials or senators that attended key meetings at issue in this case," said Menendez spokesman Steve Sandberg.

In earlier motions, Menendez and his legal team accused prosecutors and the FBI of misconduct, including misleading the grand jury. Prosecutors issued a lengthy rebuttal to those allegations and called Menendez’s allegations "naked rhetoric."

Part of the debate centers on how unsubstantiated prostitution charges involving the senator and Melgen were the initial tip that led to the FBI investigation. The criminal charges are only bribery-related. Menendez has called the underage prostitution allegation part of an unfair smear campaign, and defense motions alleged the government was out to find "something, anything" to charge him.

But in its filing Monday, prosecutors said the FBI acted properly in opening the investigation. They said the FBI received "specific and corroborated allegations" about "sex with underage prostitutes," but it was unclear if the cited corroboration went beyond the fact that the senator had traveled to the Dominican Republic.

Prosecutors also included claims from two women who made sex allegations in the "Daily Caller," claims which were later retracted.

Prosecutors also said early information included evidence that Melgen allegedly paid young women to fly with him to the Dominican Republic, and his own pilots told investigators how women who "looked like escorts" had traveled on the jet. Prosecutors said opening a case into allegations of human trafficking and underage prostitution was appropriate, even if later "unproven," and the bribery allegations later found would be part of any "normal course" of investigation.

Prosecutors Monday detailed how 36 witnesses and 300 exhibits were presented to the grand jury, and insisted the process was professional and fair. Several women who were girlfriends of Melgen and Menendez, who was divorced at the time, were called to testify. Prosecutors said the women helped substantiate the private jet trips Menendez received to the luxury resort in the Dominican Republic as well as a vacation at a leading hotel in Paris.

In a filing regarding Melgen, prosecutors said a search of his office by FBI agents turned up a black book that they said "appeared to be a ledge of prostitution activities." 

Melgen has denied wrongdoing.

Sandberg said the grand jury heard prejudicial information from the women: "The motions show how DOJ tried to make up for weak allegations about public corruption by soliciting allegations about sex. Today's filings continue that refrain, now with new salacious, baseless allegations, again having nothing to do with the actual charges in this case.”

Prosecutors were expected to file additional motions overnight. 

Judge William Walls is expected to rule sometime this fall on the senator’s motions to dismiss the case.

While the driver in a suspected DUI crash is being treated for burns at UCSD Medical Center, details are coming out from friends and family about him and his two passengers who died.

The deadly crash happened last Saturday morning at the 4800 block of Friar’s Road.

The two women killed in the crash were best friends. Lizzy Garcia and Lupe Acosta were both in their early twenties, they attended Oceanside High School, and played in the marching band together.

Lupe played the trumpet and Lizzy participated in Colors or the flags ceremonies. Lizzy was studying to become a hair stylist. Lupe adored her puppy who also died in the crash.

“It's horrible. It's tragic. Honestly, people shouldn't drink and drive. They should know better not to get in the car, anything like that," Karen Beltran, a friend of victims told NBC7. " It was really horrible because no one deserves that.”

Tori Buckner, a friend of the victims and the suspect’s cousin, was in disbelief.

“It's just so hard because it's been three days and it still feels unreal," Buckner said. "Because I keep thinking that she's going to talk to me at some point or we're going to go hang out.”

Karen Beltran, another friend, was saddened and frustrated by the crash.

“It’s heartbreaking knowing that it's someone so young and it's like you don't understand why it happens," Beltran said. "Someone survives. The other ones don't. How does it work? How do you put it together?”

The driver was a DJ on the local rave scene, often playing at a Mission Hills club called Somewhere Loud.

He had recently been kicked out of his aunt’s house for allegedly stealing.

Police say he was covered in burns after losing control of his car, crashing it into a boulder which ignited a small brush fire.

The toxicology reports are not yet back, and police say the investigation is ongoing.
 

At least five lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed over the hack of the cheating website Ashley Madison, according to North American court records, NBC News reported.

Four federal suits had been filed in the United States as of Monday — two in California, one in Texas and one in Missouri — seeking more than a half-billion dollars.

None of the suits has yet been certified as a class action covering the reported 37 million members of Ashley Madison, whom they characterize as having suffered humiliation and harassment over the reported publication of delicate personal information — including credit card data and, in some cases, photos and sexual fantasies — by hackers calling themselves Impact Team.

The data purportedly published by Impact Team has yet to be independently confirmed as authentic.

The first two four star hotels are going up in the East County.

Construction for a Marriott Courtyard hotel next to El Cajon City Hall is set to begin in the fall. Mayor Bill Wells says this is part of a bigger plan. "We're doing many things to try and increase the livability of El Cajon," says Wells. Adding two four star hotels to the mix is part of that plan.”

A second hotel site is the old El Cajon Police Department near Parkway Plaza Mall and Gillespie Field. That site plan looks to be an 80 room Hampton Inn and Suites. According to city documents, neither hotel will cost taxpayers a dime. But that doesn’t take away some peoples’ skepticism.

"I think people will use it. I think it's going to bring a lot of garbage to it and it's not going to be a four star hotel for long," said one long time El Cajon resident. "I mean, if you're a tourist, you're not going to want to come to El Cajon to stay," she added.

Mayor Wells says it’s not about attracting tourists. It’s about providing an option for local businesses.

"People come in to do business and if they want to stay at a decent hotel, they've got to go all the way down to Mission Valley,” he says. “ And that's not really conducive to doing business locally."

He adds that both four star hotels will give residents an option to put family and friends up in a nice hotel, closer to them.

One El Cajon resident tells NBC 7, “It's going to be really good for us.”

The Marriott Courtyard site is set to be completed towards the end of 2016. The Hampton Inn and Suites should be completed several months after that.