Just after 11 a.m. Tuesday witnesses in Mira Mesa called to report a possible road rage incident, San Diego police confirmed.
Witnesses reported a man with an expandable baton who allegedly smashed another driver's car window at Mira Mesa Boulevard and Westview Parkway.
Police are investigating.
There is no suspect description.
No other information was immediately available.
Check back for updates on this breaking news story.
A Hawaii yoga instructor has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her twin sister after police said she intentionally plunged the car she was driving off a cliff, NBC News reported.
Alexandria Duval, 37, pleaded not guilty Monday in the fatal May 29 crash in Maui. She was critically injured. Her sister, Anastasia Duval, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told investigators they saw the women fighting inside the vehicle moments before the fall.
Alexandria Duval was arrested Friday, following her discharge from the hospital. She was ordered held without bail Monday. A preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday.
Her defense attorney, Todd Eddins, told reporters that she was not trying to harm herself or "the person she most loved and was closest to in the world."
An 8-year-old boy struck by a trophy truck in a weekend off-road race in Mexico was the son of a Southern California youth pastor, church officials confirmed Tuesday.
Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente said spectators Xander Hendriks and his mother, Melissa Hendriks, were hit while standing next to the course during the SCORE Baja 500 race in Ensenada on Saturday.
Video captures the crash as it occurred just after 10:30 a.m. near an area known as the Ensenada wash.
Screams can be heard from the crowd as a trophy truck turns a corner and then drives along the edge of a hillside only to then continue down the hill into a crowd below.
Xander was fatally injured. Melissa Hendriks was hospitalized in stable condition. A third person was also hurt.
The church says Xander was the son of student ministries pastor Brandon Hendriks.
The family was visiting some friends in Mexico and decided to go check out the race, the church’s lead pastor Mark Ambrose told the congregation on Sunday.
“Brandon and his two younger sons were able to get out of the way but Xander and his mother Melissa were hit,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose asked his congregation to pray for the driver of the truck, Todd Pedersen, CEO of the Utah-based home security company Vivint.
Pedersen said he lost control when he failed to negotiate a turn.
"I'm devastated by the tragic accident that happened this weekend. My heart goes out to the family at this time,” Pedersen said in a statement released after the crash.
Authorities recognized that it was an accident. No charges were filed.
Bloggers covering the event also reported the victims in the crash were standing in an unsafe area.
The Baja 500 has been running for 48 years. The competition has held its start and finish lines in the city of Ensenada dozens of times.
Score International, Off-Road racing, the company that organizes the annual event, publishes information for fans on their Spectator Safety Guidelines page.
Because vehicles can easily reach speeds of over 100 mph, spectators are advised to stay at least 100 feet from the course at all times.
“Children under the age of 16 and infants should ALWAYS be accompanied by adults who are responsible for their behavior,” the site states. “At no time should adults allow children to play within 100 feet (30 meters) feet of the race course.”
A prowler convicted of sneaking into two little girls' rooms in San Diego's North County, rubbing one of their backs under the covers, has been sentenced to prison.
Dwayne Farrell was sentenced to seven years and 25 years to life in prison for two counts of residential burglary, two counts of annoying or molesting a minor and one count of a lewd act on a minor during the process of residential burglary.
A mother from one of the affected families spoke, describing the emotional turmoil the man caused her family.
"The day that happened to us was the most devastating day for our kids," one mother testified.
One of the victim's mothers described the event as a "nightmare that turned real."
Farrell broke into two units at the Terra Cotta Apartments in the 500 block of Rush Drive in 2014.
In the first incident, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Saunders said Farrell sneaked in through an unlocked sliding glass door and went into a room where an 7-year-old girl was sleeping in her bed near her 3-year-old sister’s crib.
“He was kneeling down next to her bed, rubbing her back under her covers but on top of her shirt,” said Saunders.
Thinking the man was her father, the girl noticed he may have been filming her with his phone’s camera. However, when she pulled on his beanie, she realized he was a stranger. Farrell quickly fled after that, according to Saunders.
The second incident took place just 25 minutes later. Saunders said Farrell got into a second-story unit through another unlocked sliding door and walked into a bedroom where a mother and her 8-year-old daughter were sleeping on two twin beds.
The 8-year-old awoke to find a strange man asleep on the floor beside her bed. She woke up her mother, and the woman chased the man out the room.
Farrell ran to the balcony, jumped off and hit his head on the ground, causing it to bleed, Saunders said.
That blood – later recovered by San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies – helped them identify Farrell as their suspect.
Investigators compared the blood’s DNA to the DNA in their lab’s system. Within a day, they had a positive match.
Farrell had a previous felony conviction for attempted burglary in 2012, as well as two misdemeanor charges for peeping and resisting an officer, which is why he was in the system.
On Farrell’s confiscated phone, detectives discovered downloaded images of sleeping, nude teenage girls, according to Saunders.
“Again, these were images that were sexual in nature, and the titles of the images were things such as ‘nude sleeping girls,’ ‘sleeping teens,’ things of that nature,” said Saunders.
Chargers Head Coach Mike McCoy is never going to be mistaken for Pete Carroll or Ron Rivera when it comes to personality. He’s not as sullen or stoic as Bill Belichick, but McCoy takes the business of football VERY seriously and not exactly one who looks like he’s having a real good time on the sidelines.
However, we've seen some interesting stuff during Organized Team Activities (OTA) lately. Guys seem to actually be having fun and cutting loose a little bit. At the end of practice on Monday the defense picked off a pass and took it back about 100 yards for a touchdown.
I say “the defense” because literally the entire defense ran on to the field to escort the ball in to the end zone and they were hooting and hollering the entire way. It was a show of emotion that has been missing from Chargers Park in recent years and the kind of thing that just might help the Bolts improve instantly in 2016.
“That was something we wanted to emphasize to the players,” said McCoy. “Get back to having fun. Enjoy going out there and working your tails off every day, competing, and be happy for one another’s success. When someone scores a touchdown for the offense you see the linemen going in the end zone and celebrating with those guys. There’s a big play on defense and guys are running on the field celebrating. They work extremely hard. Let’s enjoy our time out here together.”
The atmosphere is certainly livelier around practice this off-season. To perform at their best football players need to be able to play loose. Perhaps McCoy has come to that realization and the extra dancing between drills and gum bumping between offense and defense will be one of the keys to unlocking a winning season in 2016.
Or, this is just an anomaly and when training camp hits and the season gets closer McCoy will revert to being overly conservative, taking his players with him. We’ll find out in a couple of months.
The number of ballots cast in San Diego County Tuesday is expected to far exceed local turnout in the state’s 2012 Presidential primary.
“I'm going to say about 55 to 60 percent,” County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu told NBC 7 in an interview Monday.
California’s primary election may not have turned out to be “all important” in the national scheme of things.
But it still appears to be generating considerable interest, in terms of both news media coverage and voter registration.
There’s been a surge of new voters signing up.
“The last time there was a Presidential primary election with an open seat (2008), there was a 61 percent turnout," Vu said. "In 2012 when there wasn't an open seat, we saw a 37 percent turnout."
The countywide numbers show early ballots cast by Democrats outrunning those of Republicans by nearly three percentage points.
In the last week of registration, the number of Democratic voters increased by nearly five percent, versus 1.5 percent for Republicans.
Independents, meanwhile, are voting well below their original registration totals -- in large part, it's believed, because many have re-registered to qualify for the otherwise "closed" Republican primary.
While the metrics indicate high interest and participation, interviews with voters leaving the Registrar's office indicate something less than enthusiasm.
“I'm actually pretty scared for the future,” said Evrin Peavy, a Clark Atlanta University graduate student spending the summer in San Diego’s Webster district. “It could go really good or really bad, so we'll see what happens. I'm not pumped for it. I hope I made the right decision."
"We know exactly what we're going to get with Hillary Clinton,” said Encinitas resident Craig Senes. “We have no idea what we're going to get with Donald Trump. And with a lot of people, that's preferable. A complete unknown."
Other voters seemed to think that what's been happening at “the top of the ticket" among both major parties is kind of a turn-off.
"It feels like there's such polar opposites, and people are not backing down,” said University City resident Eve Selis. “They don't want to listen to each other. It's very hard-line -- you're either this, or you're that. And it's kind of scary. It feels very angry to me."
Anger is what gripped the country during the 1968 Presidential campaign, with blood in the streets and tear gas in the air.
Has this election cycle not seen enough violence already?"
"We need to look at ways -- some people say -- to bridge the gaps, not try to create more,” suggested Poway resident Bob Shuttleworth. “I'm just worried about what our political system's going to be if this kind of thing keeps up … I hope it doesn't. I hope we have a better look down the road."
A motorcyclist died Tuesday in a collision with an SUV at an Oceanside intersection.
The 27-year-old motorcycle rider crashed at Mission Avenue and North Coast Highway.
Oceanside Police Officers were parked near the intersection at approximately 2:30 a.m. when they heard the engine of the motorcycle approaching at a high-rate of speed, investigators said.
They say the 2011 Jeep Patriot, was stopped at a red light at westbound Mission Ave and Coast Hwy. The light turned green and the SUV began to turn left.
When officers looked up, the motorcycle, a 2005 Suzuki, failed to stop for the red signal, police said, and struck the front of the Jeep.
The impact of the crash spun the SUV around about 90 degrees causing major damage, ripping off the front end of the vehicle.
The motorcycle shattered into pieces.
The speedometer and rear view mirror of the bike were found a block away from the collision.
"Obviously the motorcyclist was ejected from the motorcycle and he came to rest about 40 feet north of the intersection,” said Oceanside PD Sgt. Ignacio Lopez.
The motorcyclist was declared dead at the scene. The 30-year-old woman driving the SUV was uninjured, police said.
He was identified by Oceanside Police as Joshua Ryan Gatter.
Officers say it is unknown if alcohol was involved, however, based on the preliminary investigation, it appears that speed may have been a factor.
Three people were injured when two cars collided Tuesday along State Route 78 just west of the junction with State Route 79.
The head-on crash happened just before 8 a.m. near Dudley's Bakery.
A Nissan Altima was traveling eastbound on SR-78 when it crossed the double yellow line, according to California Highway Patrol officers.
The Altima crashed head-on into a BMW traveling westbound.
The BMW burst into flames, according to the CHP.
A 27-year-old man from Ridgecrest, California was driving the BMW. He was airlifted to UCSD Medical center with what was described by CHP as life-threatening injuries.
His passenger, a 20-year-old Julian woman, was driven to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the Altima, described by CHP as a 45-year-old Julian woman was also injured and taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
One person was trapped in a fiery crash along State Route 78 in Santa Ysabel.
California Highway Patrol officers and Cal Fire crews responded to find a major injury accident with one car on fire.
SR-78 was closed in both directions and a medical helicopter was requested.
As of 9:30 a.m., there was one-way traffic in the area.
No other information was immediately available.
A two-year-old girl nearly drowned in a pool in Escondido Monday afternoon, Escondido police confirmed.
The toddler’s mother found her floating, face down, rescued her and gave her CPR until officers arrived.
The pool is located at a house in the 2000 block of Oak Hill Drive.
The girl had a pulse but was unresponsive. By the time she was airlifted to the hospital, she was awake and crying, police said.
There is no information on her condition.
The back door was likely left open giving the girl access to the pool, officials said.
In California, where no Republican could muster the support to advance to a November runoff in a rare open U.S. Senate seat, San Diego’s Republican incumbent mayor crushed two liberal challengers by more than 35 points, avoiding a general runoff.
Mild-mannered and moderate, Kevin Faulconer and his campaign appear to be testing a novel approach for gaining ground on behalf of the state’s shrinking GOP. Rather than doubling-down on conservatism or hammering racially-tinged wedge issues, Faulconer courted the Latino vote.
“Creo que todos somos parte de una comunidad,” ran his first TV campaign ads of the season on Spanish-language networks. “I believe we are all part of one community,” it translates. But no translator was necessary because the sandy blonde Point Loma resident speaks semi-fluent Spanish.
“We come from different countries, different cultures and we don’t all speak the same language,” Faulconer says on the commercial in Spanish, while shaking hands with families and small business owners throughout San Diego. He picked up his laid-back style and bilingualism in his school-age years in Mexico in a student exchange program. In the ad, he continues: “But, we all share the same aspirations. Every one of us deserves the opportunity to succeed.”
Faulconer’s re-election campaign coincided with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s intense criticism of Mexican immigrants, a group Trump said are criminals and rapists, with promises to deport 12 million people. More recently, Trump decried a San Diego federal court judge for unfavorable rulings on a lawsuit against Trump, blaming the judge’s Mexican heritage.
“I could never vote for Trump,” said Faulconer on Election Night. “His divisive rhetoric is unacceptable and I just could never support him.”
Latinos comprise about 39 percent of the total population in California, and after decades of being on the losing end of conservative candidates’ political ambitions – starting with Gov. Pete Wilson’s 1994 “Save Our State” initiative - millions have felt compelled to register to vote, although Latinos continue to punch under their weight at the ballot box.
Meantime, California Republicans have failed to win a single statewide election for a decade, and they continue to lose ground in voter registration numbers, now trailing Democrats by more than 17 percentage points.
The state’s more than 15 million Latinos outnumber the roughly 14.9 million non-Hispanic whites, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers available. But the demographics hardly match any anti-immigrant rhetoric meant to alarm voters about masses of leaching and service-hungry destitute people swarming across the border.
More than 90 percent of Latinos in the California labor force hold a job, according to the state Employment Development Department, and legal immigrants make up more than 80 percent of the state’s Latino population, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Trump’s proposal to build a 1,000-foot long concrete wall across the U.S. Mexico border is regarded by Faulconer’s team as economically irresponsible.
“The mayor is focused on nurturing our mega region with Tijuana. He has a great relationship with Tijuana Mayor Astiazaran. He’s building bridges. He’s not building walls,” said Francis Barraza, Faulconer’s campaign manager.
As more specific voter data continues to roll in from Tuesday’s election, a preliminary glance shows Faulconer capturing a majority of the vote in minority neighborhoods like San Ysidro, Paradise Hills, and Encanto.
“Faulconer dominated the vote citywide with few exceptions,” said Vince Vasquez with the National University System Institute for Policy Research. Vasquez, an election demographic analyst, noted high support for Faulconer in San Diego’s predominately African-American and Asian Southeast areas.
State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents some of those same under-served South Bay neighborhoods, was not convinced by his efforts.
"Woo-hoo," Gonzalez said. "He's not a racist and knows he can't embrace a racist. That's politically expedient for a California Republican. But unless he is actively working against Trump or trying to change his party or leaving his party, I'm not impressed."
Faulconer has dismissed his party’s aspirations that he take a long-shot at the governorship in 2018, saying he plans to focus on San Diego, and improving the economy and services in this border region.
“When I look at the strength and the fabric of San Diego and our Latino community, our entrepreneur spirit that helps define us, I hope that we could be the national model that says, ‘This is how we do it,’” Faulconer said.
A San Diego woman was in custody Thursday, accused of setting a man on fire in Bay Terraces, San Diego Police said.
The victim, identified by police as a 56-year-old man, knew the suspect according to investigators but they have not determined a motive for the attack.
Investigators say the man had serious burns on the right side of his body on his arms and torso.
The woman, 32, told police she was in the vehicle with the man when he sexually assaulted her. She claims she set the fire in self-defense, police said.
“It appears there is a relationship between the male and the female,” said SDPD Lt. Andra Brown. “Our sex crimes unit in involved as well as the MAST unit because it was an intentional vehicle fire.”
The vehicle was parked in an apartment complex parking lot on South Meadowbrook when the incident happened at 7:30 a.m.
Police have not released information on how exactly the fire started, other than it was intentional. They say the man and woman immediately got out of the car when the fire started.
They say it is still too early to say what the charges will be due to the complexity of the case.
The incident occurred in the Bay Terraces community just north of the junction between State Routes 54 and 125.
A woman who was reported missing from her home Wednesday morning was found 24 hours later in a canyon, according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).
Police say Jan Mattei, 73, walked away from her home on Caminito Estrellado around 10 a.m. while her caregiver was vacuuming upstairs.
Mattei suffers from dementia and has a history of wandering away from the caregiver. She has done this five times before.
Searchers told NBC 7, Mattei has hidden from them in the past but this is the first time she was missing for so long.
SDPD set up a command post at St. Therese Church/Academy at College and Warning Wednesday night while officers actively searched for Mattei.
Police say search dogs were out earlier on Wednesday day Mattei’s scent went cold.
On Thursday, police said she was found in a canyon off Easton Court which is about a mile away from her home.
SDPD says the canyon was too steep so they used a helicopter to airlift Mattei out. She appeared to be uninjured but was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated.
San Diego Police, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue helped in the search.
Watch the story here.
A photo of a Maine teenager sitting by herself at her birthday party is going viral and prompting people to send her cards.
The photo of 18-year-old Hallee Sorenson was shared on Facebook by her cousin, Rebecca Guildford of Oxford, Massachusetts, who wrote that Hallee has autism.
"Hallee is funny, sweet, caring, smart, an athlete, a jigsaw puzzle champion, a wonderful student, and a best friend to all. Hallee is an amazing person — a person I am proud to be related to," she wrote. "She is also a person who just happens to have Autism. She has never let that small detail define who she is as a person — which is why I refuse to use it as something to describe her."
She described the heartbreaking scene at Sorenson's last birthday party — the teen had sent invitations to classmates and other friends, and was excited to go bowling with them.
"Hallee sat at her party anxiously waiting for her friends to arrive so they could have fun," Guildford wrote. "But Hallee's friends would never arrive. Not a single one."
It was Sorenson's 18th birthday. What should have been a milestone of adulthood was instead painful and lonely, Guildford wrote.
"My cousin is a beautiful young woman who will always have the mind of a child," she wrote. "She was heartbroken and beyond sad. She was hurt."
Guildford wants her cousin's next birthday, in July, to be special. She is asking people reading her Facebook post to send birthday cards.
As of Friday morning, the post had been shared more than 136,000 times and received dozens comments from people pledging to send cards.
When Guildford first posted the photo, she hoped she would convince 50 to 100 of her friends to send cards to Hallee. Now she has been deluged with emails, including ones from Ireland, Italy and France.
"This has blown up to something I couldn't have even thought of in my wildest dreams," she said. "It's overwhelming, but in a good way. I definitely never saw this coming."
If people take one message from the photo, she hopes it is to be kind to one another, she said. Hallee still remembers her disappointment last year, she said.
"I'm hoping that with all of this that we're able to replace those negative memories with some really good, strong, awesome memories of what a birthday really should be like," Guildford said.
Guildford noted that many people have been asking about sending gifts, and that while her family appreciates the sentiment, "gifts truly aren't necessary. A nice card would be just fine!!!"
People who wish to send cards may direct them here:
Hallee Sorenson
34 Wellesley Way
Bangor, ME 04401
"Hal loves getting mail — this would be the best birthday gift she could ask for," Guildford wrote.
Gordie Howe, one of the greatest hockey players of all time, has died at the age of 88, the Detroit Red Wings said Friday in a tweet.
Known as much for his grit as his skill, the Hall of Famer called "Mr. Hockey" played the game longer than any other player. Today, scoring a goal and an assist and getting into a fight in one game is known as a "Gordie Howe hat trick."
Revered around the NHL, he was especially important to Detroit, where he spent most of his career. The Hockey Hall of Fame tweeted that he died as well on Friday, saying "Mr. Hockey was a true legend."
Howe's career began in 1946, when the NHL had just six teams. By the time he finished playing in 1980 — on a Hartford Whalers team that featured his son — the NHL had expanded to 21 teams, and a young Wayne Gretzky was just starting his career. Still, it would take "the Great One" many more years to eclipse many of Howe's records.
"Unfortunately we lost the greatest hockey player ever today, but more importantly the nicest man I have ever met," Gretzky said in a tweet Friday.
Howe played 80 games in that final season in the NHL — the most of his career. He was 52. He finished that career with 1,850 points (801 goals and 1,049 assists), which is still fourth all-time. His 1,767 games played remains a record.
Howe won four Stanley Cups, led the league in scoring six times and was its MVP six times.
"Gordie's toughness as a competitor on the ice was equaled only by his humor and humility away from it," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "No sport could have hoped for a greater, more beloved ambassador."
Howe was born in Saskatoon, Canada, in 1928. He was in failing health in his last years, including two strokes.
"Though other superstars could be deemed somewhat better scorers, tougher fighters or faster skaters, no player has approached Gordie Howe's sustained level of excellence," the Hockey Hall of Fame writes in its biography of the right wing.
His career had a brief coda. In 1997, he signed a a one-game contract with a minor leage team, the Detroit Vipers, according to the Hall of Fame. In playing just one shift at nearly 70 years old, he extended his hockey career into an unprecedented sixth decade.
A theft was caught on surveillance camera inside a Poway hair salon and the owner believes "karma" will catch up to the thief.
Nikki Draper showed us the damage left behind by the suspect she's nicknamed the "Slob Rob."
Draper owns Dolce Vida Hair Salon on Poway Road where someone broke in early Thursday.
Marks on the door show where it looks like the suspect tried to pry the glass out of the door at approximately 4 a.m.
Surveillance video shows the crook crash through the window.
Dressed in a hoodie with a flashlight in hand he heads straight to the front desk.
When Draper saw a similar break-in at Couture Hair Bar & Spa in Carmel Mountain Ranch in May, she added security cameras to her salon.
Deputies haven't confirmed if the two salon crimes are connected.
Draper is hoping the video will help San Diego County Sheriff's Deputies catch the person responsible.
"I'm a firm believer in you reap what you sow," Draper said. "Karma is going to get you."
Michael Jace, an actor who portrayed a police officer on the TV series "The Shield," was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison Friday for fatally shooting his wife in front of their two young children in their Los Angeles home.
Before the sentence was handed down, Jace spoke for the first time in court, saying there was "no justification for my actions that night at all, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain I have caused everyone ... There is no replacing April."
The woman's mother, Kay Henry, quickly walked out of court after Jace maintained that "there was no premeditated anything."
"Irealize it doesn't bring her back," Jace said, turning to tell her family members, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Jace was convicted of second-degree murder last week by a jury of six women and six men that deliberated for about two hours before finding the 53-year-old guilty in the killing of April Jace on May 19, 2014. He was also convicted on a special allegation charge that he used a handgun.
During the trial, the couple's 10-year-old son testified that he saw his father bring his mother into a hallway, where she fell down. "Then my dad said, 'If you like running, run to heaven, and then he shot her," the boy told jurors.
According to prosecutors, the actor was upset his wife wanted a divorce and was obsessed with the belief that she was seeing someone else.
Jace waited in their Hyde Park home in the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue and when his wife arrived, he shot her once in the back, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The defense memo requested the minimum sentence prescribed by law.
"Outside of this tragic killing, Mr. Jace has been a law-abiding citizen who has never been convicted or even arrested for a crime," defense attorney Jamon Hicks stated in a sentencing memorandum. "This was truly an anomaly for Mr. Jace."
The defense said there was no evidence that Jace was brewing and plotting the demise of his wife of nine years, and that the prosecution had "oversold this case" by pursuing a first-degree murder conviction.
One of Jace's attorneys, Jamon Hicks, conceded that Jace shot his wife once in the back and then twice in the legs. But he questioned whether the actor would have premeditated the shooting knowing that the children would be there.
Jace is best known for his role as Los Angeles police Officer Julien Lowe in "The Shield." He has also appeared in such films as "Forrest Gump," "Boogie Nights" and "Planet of the Apes."
A San Diego-based geology expert said that while Friday’s 5.2-magnitude earthquake near Borrego Springs may be part of an interesting series of seismic movements, the event was a “common Southern California quake.”
“This is your classic fault movement, followed by a number of smaller ones that will likely die off,” Patrick Abbott, Ph.D, and Professor Emeritus of Geology at San Diego State University (SDSU), told NBC 7.
Abbott said there’s a slight chance the earthquake may have been a foreshock but he estimates the likelihood of this – and of a larger quake striking soon in the region – is 2 to 4 percent.
The quake, which was felt throughout Southern California, including in San Diego County, struck at 1:05 a.m. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said its epicenter was 13.7 miles northwest of Borrego Springs, a community located about 90 miles northeast of downtown San Diego.
Abbott told NBC 7 the quake happened along the San Jacinto Fault Zone, the most active zone in Southern California in the 21st Century.
“[It’s the] least surprising source of earthquakes to Southern California,” he added.
He said the quake was the result of a six-mile-deep, two-mile-long section of earth rupturing and moving, shoving energy northward. Abbott described the tear as moving much "like a zipper."
As of 8:10 a.m., at least eight smaller aftershocks had hit the region, including 3.5-magnitude quake at 4:14 a.m., according to the USGS.
Abbott said the series of aftershocks are standard for a quake of this size and the strongest aftershocks linger for about 72 hours.
“You never have just one earthquake,” he explained. “An earthquake is actually a series of movements along a fault that can take place for weeks and months.”
Abbott said geology experts have zero ability to tell the day or even year when “The Big One” might strike. In this case, he said it’s possible a quake in the 6 or 7-magnitude range could follow, but it’s unlikely.
He said he sees “no pattern whatsoever” with this quake.
Abbott said, in geological terms, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake like Friday’s event could be considered to be in the “fun zone.”
“Everybody gets to feel it and learn from the experience, but we don't really have damages or injuries or anything of that sort,” he explained.
Abbott said the earthquake struck on the west side of the Santa Rosa Mountains, away from homes. He said the energy from the waves had to travel to reach more populated areas, which impacted the way it was felt by those across different parts of Southern California.
He said that when energy is released from an earthquake, seismic waves come out at different frequencies. Being close to the epicenter, residents in Borrego Springs likely felt those waves strongly.
“Not everyone feels the same effects,” Abbott told NBC 7. “A lot of other factors either magnify or reduce the energy people feel [from an earthquake].”
Many NBC 7 viewers reported feeling the earthquake across their communities including Ramona, La Mesa, Escondido, Poway, Tierrasanta, Santee, Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, Valley Center, Ocean Beach, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Carlsbad and Vista.
The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services (OES) said Friday’s earthquake is a reminder for residents to prepare themselves for possible natural disasters by making a plan, building an emergency kit and staying informed.
OES director Holly Crawford said there are several easy and inexpensive things people can do in preparation for emergencies such as earthquakes. This includes assembling an emergency kit that includes water, food, a flashlight, important documents, a first aid kit, a radio and batteries.
Residents should also map out an emergency plan that includes a meet-up point for your family in case you’re separated when a quake hits.
The OES preparedness website, Ready San Diego, offers additional tips. The information is also available in Spanish here. Residents can also sign up for AlertSanDiego, the region’s mass notification system to get updates from authorities during emergencies.
In case of a quake, Abbott said it’s important to remember this: “Earthquakes don’t kill – buildings do.”
He said you should never run during an earthquake, as shifting objects could hurt you.
“[If you run], you’re a moving target. You don’t want to be running, you want to be under something so when things fall, they can’t hurt you,” he explained. “Where are you running to?”
Abbott said overnight hours – such as this 1:05 a.m. incident – is a good time for a quake to strike, as most people are asleep under the covers, without shelves or bigger pieces of furniture hanging over them.
“The safest place in the world for you to experience an earthquake is lying in bed,” said Abbott. “The only problem you could have is if you put something close enough to you, it could fall on you.”
The former San Diego daycare provider charged with shaking and killing an 11-month-old baby in his care was sentenced to 29 years and eight months behind bars Thursday.
James Nemeth argued against the charges in court this week, trying to convince San Diego County Superior Court Judge Joan Weber to change his plea from guilty to not-guilty. The judge denied the request after a day and a half of witness testimony that included audio from jail phone calls between Nemeth and his wife.
In addition to the time behind bars, Judge Weber ordered Nemeth to pay more than $5,000 in restitution to the family of baby Louis “Lou” Oliver.
In 2014, Nemeth was arrested and charged with murder and assault in the May 2012 death of Lou Oliver. At that time Nemeth entered a plea of not guilty.
Nemeth changed that plea to guilty in January, admitting to a total of seven charges, according to the plea deal. The plea included him admitting he abused two of his own sons.
This week Nemeth represented himself in the change of plea and sentencing hearings arguing he did not fully understand the charges he was admitting to and that he was not properly advised by his former attorney.
For hours Wednesday, the judge, prosecutor, and family members of Lou Oliver and Nemeth listened to testimony from witnesses.
Before the change of plea hearing began Nemeth said he was “shooting blind” and asked the judge to appoint him new counsel. Judge Weber denied the request saying the court is not obligated to keep appointing new counsel.
Nemeth called several witnesses to the stand including his brother, wife and sister. He asked them about what his former attorney told them the plea would include, specifically if the plea would allow him family visits, enrollment in possible programs to reduce his sentence and an ability to appeal if new evidence was found.
The prosecutor called Nemeth’s former attorney to the witness stand and played two jail phone calls between Nemeth and his wife, Melissa Jellyman.
Judge Weber said these two calls critical evidence in the request for a change of plea. The calls were the first two made immediately after Nemeth agreed to the plea deal, according to the prosecutor.
During the calls, each about 30 minutes in length, Nemeth and his wife discussed the following:
After hearing the phone calls and listening to witnesses for a day and a half, Judge Weber immediately ruled on Nemeth’s request to change his plea. She denied the request and said the phone calls show Nemeth knowingly entered into the plea. The Judge also said his former attorney properly advised Nemeth and there is no evidence of him coercing Nemeth to take the plea.
Nemeth’s sentencing began with eight people, family and friends of Lou Oiliver, sharing their feelings of anger toward Nemeth and loss of an 11-month-old.
Watch below to hear some of the comments made by family and friends.
Two months after Lou Oliver passed, the Department of Social Services, the agency responsible for licensing and regulating home daycares, suspended Nemeth's daycare license.
The agency determined there was "an immediate risk to the children in care at the Nemeth James family childcare."
Last year, NBC 7 Investigates reported that before Lou Oliver’s death, Nemeth had a lengthy history of serious violations, including allegations that he was physically rough with his own child.
NBC 7 Investigates also found it was very difficult for parents to review files on what happens to their children while in the care of individual day cares. After the stories aired,state lawmakers changed the way parents can access information about daycares in California, making the information available online, instead of only in person by appointment.
Click here to see the complete investigation.
