The Chargers had hoped running back Danny Woodhead's knee injury was not as serious as it looked. But an MRI on Monday confirmed they've lost another player for the season.

Woodhead suffered a torn ACL in Sunday's 38-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He caught a pass and tried to make a cut to avoid a defender but was hit as he planted his right leg and the knee simply buckled.

Danny is a fan favorite and one of the favorite targets of quarterback Philip Rivers. Woodhead caught 80 passes a year ago and led all NFL running backs with 755 receiving yards.

This injury comes just one week after the Chargers lost wide receiver Keenan Allen to a torn ACL. San Diego already has two other running backs, Andre Williams and undrafted rookie Kenneth Farrow, on the roster and could use them as the third and fourth backs for the rest of the season. They may also look to add another through free agency.

Woodhead was also injured early in the 2014 season when he suffered a broken leg on a run in a September game in Buffalo. His absence will likely lead to a heavier workload for second-year running back Melvin Gordon, who set career highs with 24 carries and 102 yards against Jacksonville.

To take Woodhead's roster spot the Chargers signed former Colts wide receiver Griff Whalen. San Diego worked out Whalen last week after Allen was injured. The former Stanford wideout spent four years with the Colts, catching 45 passes for 487 yards and three touchdowns.

It was just another day of work for one New Jersey bar owner — until he encountered the most wanted man in the tri-state sleeping outside his tavern.

As a massive manhunt was underway for New York City bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami, business owner Harry Bains noticed a man sleeping in the doorway of his Linden bar, Merdie’s Tavern.

Bains said the man had been asleep there for hours Monday morning and thought that he may have been a drunk who passed out. He said the man looked “tired and exhausted” as rain poured down around him.

The news of a terror suspect on the loose had been on in Merdie’s Tavern all morning. He said he had a gut feeling about the sleeping man, as the story ran over and over on television and Rahami’s image replayed in his mind.

“I was watching the news since this morning and I said, 'This guy looks so like this guy.' And I kept looping the same story three or four times,” Bains said.

Bains finally decided to follow his instincts about the man. He said he made a call to Linden police.

When officers arrived, things escalated quickly.

The officers woke Rahami. When he lifted his head they recognized him as the man in the FBI wanted poster released just hours earlier. They told him to show his hands and he pulled out a gun and fired, hitting one of them, according to police.

Rahami then allegedly walked down the street firing at random passing vehicles. Eventually police were able to take him down. He was hauled away in an ambulance, wounded by police bullets, but still alive.

Bains was nearly hit by bullets during the gunfight, but he says in the end he’s glad he followed that uneasy feeling he had.

“I'm just happy that I did it and it came to be that guy, you know?” Bains said.

But the totality of the whole situation was still settling in for Bains later on Monday.

“Why in the world? Of all the places in front of my bar? The guy is lodging in front of my bar.”

An elderly man was found dead in the water near Caesar Chavez Park by the Port of San Diego on Monday evening, the San Diego Harbor Police confirmed.

The incident occurred sometime around 6:30 p.m.

Witnesses told police they saw the man on a private peir and asked him to leave. About five minutes later, they saw the same man lying face down in the water. 

Police say they believe the death was accidental and that the man slipped and fell into the water. They said he may have been looking for the public pier, which is nearby. 

The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office is working to identify the body.

No other information was immediately available.

A local high school class got a visit from U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy and a former prescription drug addict on Monday as part of a national campaign to raise awareness about heroin and prescription drug abuse.

As part of National Heroin and Opioid Awareness Week, between Oct. 18-Oct. 24, U.S. Attorney’s across the nation will work with schools to raise awareness about the deadly addiction.

Sophomores from the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences at Clairemont High School have been working to apply what they learn inside the classroom to real-world situations. Monday’s visit was to help students gain better insight into the issue in hopes of putting them on-track to combat it.

Students watched “Chasing the Dragon,” a video documenting the lives of people who became addicted to prescription drugs and heroin. Mark Gagarin also shared his own 12-year long struggle with drug addiction which began when he was in high school.

“At 28-years old, I was 130 pounds—no job, no healthy relationships; no vision for my life and pretty much toward the end of what I thought was going to be the end of my life,” Gagarin said.

According to officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, addiction to prescription drugs and opioids claims the lives of 46,000 people every year—more than car crashes or gun violence.

"These painkillers--people will tell you who have gone through addiction are the most addictive drug that they have ever used," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

Gagarin said once you’re hooked on the drugs, it’s difficult to stop.

“I was a good kid. I had 2 parents who loved me and it still happened to me,” he said, adding that, “It got worse and worse and I became the person I never wanted to be.”

On Monday, Gagarin brought his message to students, aspiring to work on the front lines in the fight against drug addiction.

“I was in somewhat of a delusion that I wasn't hurting anybody and that my life was okay,” he said. “And the reality of the situation was it was a mess but I was really unable to see that.”

Gagarin told NBC 7 that if his story could help anyone stay away from that kind of lifestyle, then he would help.

At the end of the presentation, students sign up for a contest by either submitting a poster or launching a social media campaign that focuses on the dangers of misusing prescription drugs.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy will be at Serra High School next week to continue spreading awareness.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie falsely claimed that Donald Trump did not question President Barack Obama’s birthplace “on a regular basis” after the president produced his long-form birth certificate in April 2011.

In fact, Trump continued for years to traffic in baseless rumors that Obama was not born in the U.S.

Trump tweeted in 2012 that an “extremely credible source” told him the president’s birth certificate “is a fraud,” and suggested in 2014 that Obama’s college records would show his real “place of birth.” He even cast conspiratorial doubts on the sudden death of the Hawaii health director in 2013, two years after she approved the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate.

Trump’s history of questioning Obama’s birth certificate dates to at least 2011, when the businessman was contemplating a run for president.

Obama in 2008 produced his official “Certification of Live Birth” — which FactCheck.org staffers touched, examined and photographed, as we wrote in our “Born in the U.S.A.” article. In 2011, Trump insisted — falsely — that Obama’s “Certification of Live Birth” was “not a birth certificate,” when in fact it satisfies the legal requirements for proving citizenship and obtaining a passport. We covered that and other false claims Trump was making at the time in our story “Donald, You’re Fired!”

After Trump revived the so-called birther movement in 2011, Obama received an exemption from the Hawaii Department of Health to release his long-form birth certificate. Obama produced the form on April 27, 2011, as reported in our story “Indeed, Born in the U.S.A.”

Christie insisted on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump in 2011 accepted that Obama was born in Hawaii, when in fact Trump for years continued to question the authenticity of the long-form birth certificate.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, Sept. 18: I want to ask you about this birther thing, because you, as governor, as a politician, you have stood up to some of the darker impulses in American politics. You have been clear for a long time that Barack Obama was born in the United States. Donald Trump, by contrast, he clung to the birther lie for years. He still isn’t apologetic about it. Do you understand why so many people, including African Americans, are upset with him over the issue?

Christie: Oh, listen, I made my position on it really clear a long time ago. And Donald has now made his position on it clear, which is that, after the president presented his birth certificate, Donald has said he was born in the United States, and that’s the end of the issue.

It was a contentious issue and, by the way, an issue that Patti Solis Doyle of the Clinton campaign in 2008 has recently admitted was an issue that Mrs. Clinton also injected into her campaign in 2008 in a very quiet, but direct way, against then Senator Obama.

And so, you know, the birther issue is a done issue. I have said it’s a done issue for a long time. And Donald Trump has said it’s a done issue now. And so we need to move on to the issues that are really important to the American people.

And, Jake, I got to tell you the truth. If you think that anyone is going to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or against either one of them based upon this issue, then I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the concerns of the American people. Let’s move on to the real issues.

Tapper: Well, just as a point of fact, again, Donald Trump did not accept when Barack Obama released his birth certificate in 2011. He kept up this whole birther thing until Friday. That’s five years. But we only have a little time left. So, I want to ask you …

Christie: No, but, Jake, that’s just not true. It’s not true that he kept it up for five years.

Tapper: Sure, he did.

Christie: It’s simply not true.

Tapper: It is true.

Christie: It wasn’t like he was talking — no, Jake, it wasn’t like — it wasn’t like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus made a similar claim on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Priebus said that Trump at his Sept. 16 campaign event “came out and said, listen, I was involved in trying to figure this out as well, and I have determined that the president was born in Hawaii, just like I have said for years.”

Christie and Priebus are both wrong. Trump perpetuated the false narrative for years after Obama presented his long-form birth certificate on April 27, 2011.

ABC News tallied up 67 instances in which Trump tweeted or retweeted comments that questioned the legitimacy of Obama’s birth certificate. In some cases, Trump also promoted discredited conspiracies advanced by some of the most ardent believers in the “birther” falsehood.

On Aug. 6, 2012, Trump tweeted that an “extremely credible source” told him the president’s birth certificate “is a fraud.”

An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012

On Dec. 12, 2013, Trump tweeted about the death of Loretta Fuddy, the Hawaii health director who approved the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate in 2011. Trump used quotes around “birth certificate” and implied that Fuddy’s death was part of the birther conspiracy.

How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama’s “birth certificate” died in plane crash today. All others lived

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2013

The autopsy revealed that the 65-year-old woman died of an irregular heartbeat from the stress of the crash, as the Associated Press reported.

On Sept. 6, 2014, Trump was on Twitter again, urging hackers to “hack Obama’s college records (destroyed?) and check ‘place of birth.’”

Attention all hackers: You are hacking everything else so please hack Obama's college records (destroyed?) and check "place of birth"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2014

In this tweet, Trump advanced a long-discredited claim that Obama applied for and received a college scholarship for foreign students. It was, in fact, an April Fools’ Day hoax.

As we wrote more than seven years ago, a viral email circulated a fake Associated Press story dated April 1, 2009, that said Obama’s college transcripts from Occidental College showed he applied for and obtained a Fulbright scholarship for foreign students. The email called it the “smoking gun.” But the AP at the time gave us a statement calling the story a fake. The story also claimed that the United States Justice Foundation investigated Obama’s campaign spending and found evidence the campaign misused funds to “block disclosure of any of [Obama’s] personal records.” But the executive director of that group told us in an email, “It’s all a hoax.”

During the presidential campaign, Trump refused to answer questions about Obama’s birthplace — until Sept. 16. A year ago, for example, comedian Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” asked Trump: “I’m going to throw you a big, fat meatball. This is the last time you ever have to address this question if you hit the ball. Barack Obama, born in the United States?” Trump replied, “I don’t talk about it anymore.”

More recently, Trump refused to answer the question in an interview with the Washington Post on Sept. 15, a day before he finally acknowledged that Obama was born in the U.S.

It’s simply preposterous for Priebus to claim that Trump has been saying “for years” that Obama was born in the U.S., and for Christie to claim it is “not true” that Trump kept the conspiracy theory alive for years after the president produced his long-form birth certificate.

Christie is also off base when he says that Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, “has recently admitted [it] was an issue that Mrs. Clinton also injected into her campaign in 2008 in a very quiet, but direct way, against then Senator Obama.” That’s not what she said.

In a Sept. 16 interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Solis Doyle said that a “rogue volunteer coordinator” in Iowa was fired when the campaign found out that the aide forwarded an email promoting the birthplace conspiracy. Solis Doyle called the incident “beyond the pale,” saying she called Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and apologized for it. “This was not the kind of campaign we wanted to run,” she said she told Plouffe.

Students at American University protested Monday night over racial incidents on campus earlier in September.

Protesters said they are fed up with “hate-filled incidents” against African-American students at AU. They were frustrated that two Sept. 8 incidents, one where an African-American woman said a banana was thrown at her and another African-American woman found a rotten banana and obscene drawings on her dorm room door, are not being investigated as hate crimes.

The AU students were joined by students from George Washington University, Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia.

Alaina Mastrippolito, a junior at American University, thought the events reported on campus were hard to believe. She came to the protest, because she wanted to hear the thoughts of the black community on campus.

"AU promotes being such an inclusive community, and it's hard to see that some students are just on the complete opposite spectrum," she said. "It's obviously different to see what has been reported and what the students are actually thinking.”

With the number of people at the event, Mastrippolito is hopeful that there will be a change.

"But once again, the change starts with us," she said. "So it takes the effort of everyone not just a certain group."

Sydnee Martin, a freshman at George Washington University, saw only a part of the protest but said seeing so many people standing up for a certain reason is something that many people should know about.

"Not many people knew about this [protest] that happened today, and I just think it needs to get out there so people become more aware of it," she said.

She said she believes the events on campus were racially charged.

Student protesters met with university officials over the weekend at a town hall meeting. They said they were unsatisfied by the response of the school administration and called for the suspension of the students responsible.

American University said the students responsible for the incidents have been disciplined. American University President Neil Kerwin has called for campus events to address racial problems and create a more inclusive culture.

Kerwin issued a statement on Monday: “We will confront racist expressions with forceful condemnation and respond to discrimination with every tool at our disposal. It is incumbent on the university to respond clearly and to educate those who cause harm with their insensitivity and ignorance.”

Mayor de Blasio will meet with residents of Chelsea on Tuesday after saying Monday that there is “every reason to believe” bombings in the Manhattan neighborhood and in New Jersey over the weekend were “an act of terror.”

Crime scene tape came down on West 23rd Street on Monday, just two days after a blast erupted along the stretch between Seventh and Sixth avenues, injuring 29 people and setting off a massive hunt for the person responsible.

As the barricades and blockades disappeared along Chelsea streets Monday night, something else moved in: a spirit of reflection.

Edmund Ebrani normally eats dinner across the street from the blast site every Saturday, but this weekend he stayed home.

“We’re Jewish, now we go and say special prayers that we were not there at that time,” Ebrani said.

On Monday night, Reggie Jackson was also on 23rd Street. He was dealing with his windshield, which was smashed by shrapnel during the blast. Jackson and his wife were upstairs Saturday night when an explosive device went off in what authorities now call a terror attack. Another bomb nearby never detonated.

Jackson said he and his wife normally sit in their SUV for a while before they go up to their apartment.

“We decided not to be in the car that night and it was a good thing,” Jackson said.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old man authorities believe planted the two Chelsea bombs and three pipe bombs in Seaside Park, New Jersey, was apprehended by police shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday.

Claire Richter stood under a shredded overhang on West 23rd Street Monday night. The thirty-year Chelsea resident said the bombing “was just too close” and that the damaged street represents the state of security for an entire country these days, which has faced a new threat in soft target attacks. 

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton called the bombing in Chelsea “probably the first significant successful terror attack [in New York City] since 9/11.”

“This is individual, little people with a lot of hate and a lot of resentment and they’re blowing up whatever they can,” Richter said.

As the Tuesday morning rush begins and the city continues on with its ceaseless grind, a few cops and a number of boarded-up windows will be the main indication that an act of terror was committed here just days ago. 

But some Chelsea residents were still out of their homes and neighbors here and elsewhere will undoubtedly be talking about the shock of this weekend for quite some time.

Well, they won’t be giving them away, exactly, but tickets go on sale this week for the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour in support of their new album, “The Getaway.”

Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer last played in San Diego County in September 2015 at a fundraiser held at the Belly Up, when tickets were a red-hot $1,000 and benefitted youth performing arts education groups including Heartbeat Music Academy, San Diego Young Artists Music Academy and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, which was co-founded by bassist Flea in 2001 and provides affordable or free lessons and instruments to its eight classrooms of students in an effort to facilitate music education. It’s not clear yet how much tickets will be for the 2017 shows.

GET ON THE LIST FOR OUR FREE SOUNDDIEGO LIVE 10/20 AT BLONDE

The funk rockers will be getting their freak on at Valley View Casino Center on March 5, following the tour kickoff exactly two months prior in San Antonio, Texas. Fans taking in the tour will also get to see New Orleans icon Trombone Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue, on all the dates. RHCP also made the Sports Arena home for one night back in September 2012.

A fan-club pre-sale will start on Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, with general public sales beginning Friday at the same time. Can’t get tickets for SD? There’s a show at Staples Center up in LA two nights later (fan presale for that one begins at noon PT on Tuesday. General sales for LA get going at noon PT on Friday).

Twenty-four dates were announced on Monday morning, with many others expected to follow.

California is a now the nationwide leader in an unfortunate category.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the golden state has the highest percentage of its population living in poverty compared to any other state based on a new measuring stick.

The New York Times reported that the enhanced calculation system reports that 20.6 percent of Californians, which in reality equates to 7,959 individuals, live in poverty. Florida came in second with 19 percent of its population calling the sidewalks or shelters home. Louisiana and New York finished in a tie for third place at 17.9 percent, according to the report.

Although technically not a state and significantly smaller than California in terms of population size, 22.2 percent of residents in the District of Columbia were recorded to be living in impoverished conditions, according to the report.

Poverty levels can vary across the country because of fluctuating taxes, housing costs and income levels. Based on that understanding, the U.S. Census Bureau disregarded the official poverty measure to utilize what its calls the "Supplemental Poverty Measure" in an attempt to account for those shifting variations.

High taxes and skyrocketing rent prices are just some of the reasons why folks in California have fallen on hard times recently, as reported by the New York Times.

The state's updated poverty numbers stand in stark contrast with the fact that California is home to the highest amount of residents earning ten-figure salaries, according to the New York Times.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the population of the District of Columbia. The correct population of that region is 672,228 people as of July 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the bombings in New York City and a shore town in New Jersey, immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan and lives in New Jersey, where his father owns a fried chicken restaurant.

Rahami was wounded during a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, Monday morning after he was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar, according to authorities. Two police officers were also wounded, but are expected to survive. Rahami was taken into custody and, Monday evening, charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law-enforcment official. 

"We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Rahami, 28, is a U.S. citizen whose family opened First American Fried Chicken in 2002 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The restaurant was searched by authorities Monday morning. The family came to the United States in 1995 as asylum seekers. 

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Rahami lives with his family above the restaurant, according to The Associated Press.

"He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary," Ryan McCann of Elizabeth told the AP.

His father, Mohammed, said little to an NBC News reporter outside their home Monday, telling him only "I'm not sure what's going on" and "It's very hard right now to talk." 

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Travel to Pakistan, Middle East
Rahami, who was born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan, was arrested in connection with the bombings Saturday and Sunday in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and Seaside Park, New Jersey. Five pipe bombs were found in Elizabeth, one of which exploded as authorities investigated.

A law enforcement source told NBC that a fingerprint on an unexploded device linked the bombings to Rahami; cellphone information also helped.

He was not on either a U.S. terrorist watch list nor on one maintained by the New York Police Department, senior officials told NBC News.

A senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News on Monday that Rahami made several trips to Pakistan and visited Afghanistan in 2013.

[[393995361, C]]

Friends and former classmates told NBC News that Rahami was a "cool dude" in high school with the nickname Bo. He liked to have fun and served as a father figure to his younger siblings. By 2014, Rahami was married to a Pakistani woman and had a "nasty" disposition and a license to carry a firearm.

"I played lacrosse with him until he was kicked off the team for being late all the time," said one former classmate, who didn't want his name made public. "He definitely didn't seem like the kind of guy you would think would do something like this."

Rahami was a criminal justice major at Middlesex Community College from 2010 to 2012 but did not graduate, a college spokesman said. The school said there was nothing concerning in his file.

[[393992711, C]]

He was involved in a domestic incident but the allegations were recanted, FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney Jr. said in a news briefing on Monday. He did not describe the incident further.

Rahami family's lawsuit
Five years ago, Mohammed and two relatives claimed in a lawsuit filed in federal court that they were harassed by city officials over the restaurant's hours of operation. Neighbors had complained that the restaurant was a late-night nuisance.

They accused the city of targeting them because they were Muslim, according to the the civil rights complaint.

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The restaurant had an exemption to stay open past 10 p.m., but police repeatedly tried to close it early, according to the lawsuit. During one confrontation with police, one of Ahmad Rahami's older brothers was arrested after a fight with an officer, and later fled to Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

One man, James Dean McDermott, told the family, "Muslims make too much trouble in this country," according to the complaint.

[[394007271, C]]

McDermott, a freelance television cameraman, denied the accusation, telling NBC News, "it never happened." He said his dispute with the Rahamis was over the restaurant's hours and not their religion.

Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage told The AP that Rahami's father and two brothers sued after the city passed an ordinance requiring it to close early. 

The owner of a neighboring business described the family as "very secluded" and said the children usually worked behind the counter.

Rahami's father, Mohammad, told NBC News in a brief interview Monday that he had no idea his son was plotting an attack.

For more coverage of the New Jersey and New York bombings, click here.

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County health officials plan to hand spray a section of the Skyline neighborhood after a resident returned from a trip abroad, where they were infected with the Zika virus.

The Skyline resident recently returned from a trip to a country where tropical, mosquito-borne illnesses, including the Zika virus, are active. The individual developed symptoms after returning home and tested positive for the virus. 

Mosquitoes and larvae that could carry the virus were also found near the Zika patient's residence. Officials plan to go door-to-door to residents' homes on Monday and leave notifications for people living where the spraying will occur.

On Wednesday, County officials will spray the area bordered by Noeline Place on the north side, Parkbrook Way on the east, Parkbrook Street on the south, and Parkbrook Place on the west.

Aedes species of mosquitoes, which are known to carry Zika, are not native to San Diego County. Officials said they prefer to live close to people, which is unlike most native species. A female mosquito can lay anywhere from 100 to 300 eggs at a time.

When spraying the County will use Pyrenone, an insecticide derived from chrysanthemums, that poses low risk to people and pets. The chemicals dissipate in about half an hour.

To avoid exposure to the spray, officials are encouraging residents to stay inside with any pets, close doors and windows, cover fishponds, rinse fruits and vegetables from their gardens and wipe down outdoor items. Beekeepers are advised to cover their shelter hives and habitats.

Rebecca LaFreniere, Deputy Director with Department of Environmental Health San Diego County, suggested residents help the county control the aedes species of mosquitoes by routinely removing breeding areas around their home.

She suggested something as small as a toy, a lawn ornament or a saucer could provide a perfect amount of water for mosquitoes to multiply.

A neighborhood in Lakeside is looking for answers after a man's cat was shot to death with a pellet gun.

The cat's owner, Matt Cummings, says he wants nothing more than justice for his beloved pet. Kitty, was shot to death at Stoneridge Apartments while on his usual morning walk around the complex.

"All the neighbors in this entire complex know Kitty," Cummings said.

He told NBC 7 that he adopted Kitty about a year ago. The cat usually spent time inside Cummings' apartment and outdoors without a problem--until Sunday morning.

Cummings said Kitty had been outside for about an hour and when he came back, something was seriously wrong.

"My girlfriend picked up the cat and she said 'I'm bleeding' how did that happen? I said 'Wait a minute, that's not your blood. That's my animal's blood'," Cummings said.

He rushed Kitty to an animal hospital where it was discovered he had been hit again with the same pellet gun that had struck him six months earlier. Cummings said that attack had left Kitty which a wound but he had recovered quickly. This time, the wound was too deep, forcing Cummings to make a difficult decision.

"My boy was suffering. I had one option," he said.

Many neighbors, stunned by the news of Kitty's passing are now grieving and worried for the safety of their own pets.

"It just kind of blows my mind that someone would have the audacity to shoot pets in an apartment complex," said neighbor Nick Romero.

"It takes a really evil person to do this to an animal like that," Cummings added.

Anyone with information can call the anonymous tip line at, (619) 672-2662. Cummings has also set up a GoFundMe page for Kitty’s veterinarian visit.

The city took a big step forward Monday on their journey to improving accessibility in Balboa Park.

San Diego City Council voted 8-1 in favor of establishing Balboa Park Plaza de Panama as a Capital Improvement Project (CIP).

The move to advance the plan to the CIP stage allows for the creation of a project bank account and finalization of construction documents.

The council also approved the appropriation of up to $1,000,000 for necessary design revisions and a new estimate of the project’s cost. According to the official docket, up to $602,576.04 comes from Fund 200215, Unappropriated Reserve Balboa Park CIP, and up to $397,423.96 is from Fund 400000, Capital Outlay-Sales Tax.

Finally, the council authorized the Chief Financial Officer to transfer $352,214.26 into Fund 200215.

The Director of Communications for the Office of Councilmember Todd Gloria said that the action was “…more of a step, rather than approval of the final project or any major funding.”

If approved, the project will bring an underground paid parking structure with a 2.2-acre rooftop park, a pedestrian bypass bridge and other accessibility improvements.

A local woman has died from a probable case of West Nile virus, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

The San Marcos woman, who also had underlying medical conditions, died on Sept. 15. The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency says initial tests indicated that she may have died from West Nile virus but the findings have not yet been confirmed by the California Department of Public Health.

So far this season, there have been eight confirmed cases and three probable cases of the virus in San Diego County. All of the cases involved residents who had acquired the virus locally.

West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes who feed on birds carrying the virus. The species of mosquitoes that transmit the virus are different from those carrying the Zika virus.

According to the County News Center, the Vector Control Program in San Diego County has collected more infected dead birds and batches of mosquitoes this year compared to recent years. Last year, there were six deaths caused by the virus out of 44 reported human cases.

Last week, county health officials performed an aerial drop of larvicide on local waterways to prevent the virus from spreading.

The larvicide is not harmful to people or animals.

The county is advising residents to take precautions against mosquito bites. You can get more information here.

The San Diego County District Attorney's office has filed new charges against a U.S. Navy Commander accused of attempting to rape a colleague. 

Former Commander John M. Neuhart II, 39, now relieved of duty, arrived in court on crutches, carrying a rosary, as his well-known attorney Kerry Armstrong entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. 

Neuhart arrested last week by San Diego Police (SDPD) patrol officers. He was formally charged Monday on charges of attempted forced rape, assault with intent to rape, hot prowl burglary and resisting arrest. Neuhart is out on bail. 

"A hot prowl residential burglary just means essentially - a person entered in this case is a residence with the intent to commit a specified offense here it would be rape," said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Tag.

The former commander is married and has worked in the military for more than 15 years, officials revealed in court. 

Neuhart is the commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, based at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam. He was relieved of duty Monday morning. 

"The decision to relieve was based on actions taken by Cmdr. Neuhart that demonstrated a lack of good judgment and professionalism, calling into question his leadership and undermining his credibility to continue to serve effectively in command," a statement from the U.S. Navy read.

The incident took place Monday, Sept. 12, when San Diego police responded to a call of a sexual assault occurring in the city's Valencia Park neighborhood, SDPD Sex Crimes Lt. Paul Phillips said. 

Neuhart and the victim, both members of the Navy, met at a hotel downtown when the victim, with a group of friends, recognized Neuhart, according to Phillips. The group talked for a while until the victim left the bar to go home, with Neuhart going as well.

Neuhart allegedly followed the victim into her house, at which point he allegedly attempted to rape her. 

"The suspect immediately became forceful with her and attempted to sexually assault her," Phillips said.

The victim fought the suspect off and screamed loudly, Phillips said. A neighbor heard the screams and ran to the front of the house to ask if the victim was okay. When she answered no, the neighbor called 911 and said through the window that the police were on the way. 

Neuhart apparently heard the remark, Phillips said, and escaped through the back door. 

The neighbor flagged down police when they arrived and pointed out Neuhart, who was running down the street and into a nearby canyon. 

Officers apprehended Neuhart in the canyon and took him into custody. 

Though both the victim and defendant are members of the U.S. Navy, the Deputy DA Tag explained why they are not being tried in military court. 

"The defendant and the victim are both members of the U.S. Navy; where this occurred was in the jurisdiction of the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Police Department responded, so what happens in those situations is that San Diego Police Department and state court would have initial jurisdiction," Tag said.

According to a website for the Navy, Neuhart joined the "Warhawks" of Fleet Replacement Squadron, HS-10 in San Diego in 2002. Since then, he was deployed aboard USS Harry S. Truman, and served as a Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) at the Seahawk Weapons School "Seawolf" in Fallon, Nevada.

The Navy Times reports Neuhart was in San Diego for a conference.

The father of Ahmad Rahami, the suspected bomber in a series of explosions in New York City and New Jersey Saturday, says he had "no idea" his son was involved in any alleged terror plan. 

Mohammad Rahami, who owns the fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that was raided by FBI and other officials as law enforcement escalated their manhunt for the suspect, had little else to say about his son's arrest. 

Asked by NBC News if he knew his son was allegedly involved in bomb-making, Mohammad Rahami said, "No. No idea." 

Authorities are looking to question Ahmad Rahami's wife, who was out of the country when the bombings were carried out last weekend. A senior law enforcement official says investigators do not consider her travel suspicious.

Ahmad Rahami, a 28-year-old native of Afghanistan, was taken into custody Monday after a shootout on the street with police officers in Linden, New Jersey. Two officers were shot in the chaos, but are expected to make full recoveries. One left the hospital Monday night; the other was expected out Tuesday. Rahami, who was also wounded and remains hospitalized, has been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. 

No charges have been filed yet in connection with the Saturday bombings in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that left 29 injured and the explosion at a Marine 5K race in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Federal charges were still pending, and the U.S. attorneys in New York and New Jersey will likely charge him with terrorism in the coming days, FBI officials said in Linden Monday.

In addition to the counts of attempted murder, Rahami is charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Monday evening. Bail for Rahami in the Linden shootout was set at $5.2 million. It wasn't clear if he'd retained an attorney as of Monday night.

Authorities had been looking for Rahami in connection with bombings that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood and a Jersey shore town over the weekend. A senior law enforcement official says a fingerprint collected from an unexploded device led investigators to Rahami as a suspect in the bombings at the Marine 5K race and the blast in Chelsea. 

It wasn't clear if the suspect was linked to five pipe bombs — one of which was inadvertently detonated by a robot — found at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, late Sunday, not far from where Rahami was later captured. 

The blast in Chelsea injured 29 people, though all have since been released from the hospital. The explosion left twisted metal and shrapnel scattered across 23rd Street. An unexploded pressure cooker with a cellphone attached and wires protruding was found four blocks away; it was taken to a firing range, where it was safely detonated. Mayor de Blasio was set to visit the scene Tuesday as the neighborhood worked to return to normal. 

The discovery of the Manhattan devices came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in a trash bin at the Marine 5K in Seaside Park. Authorities had said they believed the device had been timed to go off as participants were running by, but the race had been late. It was canceled and no one was hurt. 

Old-fashioned flip phones were found on the devices in Manhattan and in Seaside Park, law enforcement officials close to the investigation told NBC 4 New York. All of the phones were purchased at the same New Jersey discount store — and were made with commonly available materials that can be bought without raising law-enforcement suspicions, authorities say.

After hedging on any potential terror angle over the weekend, Mayor de Blasio said at a news briefing Monday that there is "every reason to believe" the bombings in the city and in New Jersey were "an act of terror." 

Authorities said, though, that there was no indication of a terror cell in the area, and officials believe the suspect acted alone.

Bullets from two guns were recovered early Tuesday following a shooting on a street corner in downtown San Diego.

Police officers collected at least a dozen shell casings from the corner of 15th and Island in East Village.

The shooting was reported just before 3 a.m. in an area where more than 30 people were gathered.

No victims have been located as of 7 a.m., police said.

A man driving a silver SUV was spotted driving away. Law enforcement officers later stopped the vehicle on Interstate 5.

The driver was arrested for reckless driving. SDPD Officers described the man as a known gang member.

A woman in the passenger seat was detained.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story. 

A tropical storm system brought heavy rain into San Diego’s South Bay early Tuesday.

The most active area before 6 a.m. was south of Interstate 8 where pop-up storms dumped a lot of rain in a short period.

The South Bay was getting pummeled, according to NBC 7’s Whitney Southwick.

“It’s all coming from what was Hurricane Paine, now Tropical Storm Paine,” Southwick said. “As it continues north, it will continue to weaken.”

Animals, food, drinks and music will fill the San Diego Zoo this weekend for one seriously wild tasting event as the landmark continues to celebrate its centennial.

From 6:30 to 11 p.m., certain areas of the San Diego Zoo will transform into party zones for the San Diego Zoo Food Wine & Brew Celebration – a bash that includes bites and sips from more than 150 restaurants, wineries and breweries.

Participating eateries include Flour & Barley, Galaxy Taco, Jake’s Del Mar, Peohe’s, Sea 180 Coastal Tavern and Waypoint Public, just to name a few. On the wine and brews side, participants include Amplified Ale Works, Belching Beaver Brewing, Cass Vineyard & Winery, Lorimar Vineyards & Winery and Thorn Street Brewery, among many, many others.

Organizers say food and beverage tasting booths will be available in all of the party zones inside the zoo through 10:30 p.m. Check out a map of the zones here.

With about 3,000 attendees expected, guests will also get to dance under the stars to live music from several bands and meet exotic animals during up-close presentations throughout the night.

Other activities include games in the “Critter Casino” with a chance to win prizes, plus a “Glow Zone” and high-soaring rides on the zoo’s famous Skyfari.

General admission tickets to this 21+ event cost $125 per person. All proceeds will benefit the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and its ongoing fight against animal extinction.

This party is the latest in a series of centennial celebrations this year marking the milestone birthday of the San Diego Zoo.

For more information on the event, visit the San Diego Zoo Food Wine & Brew website.