For the past 10 years, the United African American Ministerial Action Council has hosted a gun buyback program in Encanto in honor of two teens who were killed as a result of gun violence.

On Saturday, the Council once again co-hosted the event with the San Diego Police Department, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.

“It started because of the death of Michael Taylor and Monique  Palmer,” the Rev. Gerald Brown said. “We continued this event in their memory to keep out street, community, city and county safe.”

Taylor, 15, and Palmer, 17, were leaving a house party in Valencia Park in December 2008 when they were gunned down by Frederick Garcia Cruz, a gang member. Both Taylor and Palmer have no gang connection.

Cruz was sentenced to 50 years to life for their murder in March 2011.

“Participating in this program could very well save someone's life by preventing guns from getting into the wrong hands — or a child's hands,”  San Diego police Chief David Nisleit said in a statement.

In addition to removing unwanted guns off the streets, the event also honors all victims of gun violence, organizers said.

"It is our hope people will honor not only these two young people, who lost their lives so senselessly but all people who have died due to gun violence," San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore said in a statement. 

Nearly 900 guns were removed from the street in the past three years through this event. Roughly 300 guns were collected each year, Brown said.

“This is the best show of law enforcement, community and church coming together for one purpose: to make San Diego the safest city to work, play and worship,” he said.

On Saturday, 249 guns were turned in, 121 of which were handguns. People who turn in their guns got a gift card or a skateboard in return. The cards were worth $100 to $200 depending on the weapons.

One man brought in a 19th century U.S. cavalry gun, valued at over $3,000, said San Diego police Capt. Gerry Hara.

“Less number of guns that there are, less gun violence that there’s going to be," Hara said. "So we’re here working with a lot of community partners as well as the sheriff’s department the DA’s office and City Council to just buy back all those guns and let’s get all those guns off the street.”

All guns collected will be destroyed.

A lion on loan from the San Diego Zoo died in a fight with another lion at the Indianapolis Zoo on Monday, zoo officials said.

According to the zoo, Nyack, a 10-year-old lion, was killed by his longtime mate, Zuri in the outdoor yard Monday morning before the menagerie opened to the public.

Zookeepers went to check on the lions in the enclosure after hearing an unusual amount of roaring when they saw Zuri fighting with Nyack. Zookeepers tried to separate the two, but the lioness held on to Nyack’s neck until he stopped moving. 

Nyack died in the outdoor yard Monday morning before the zoo opened to the public. A necropsy confirmed Nyack died of suffocation from injuries to the neck, according to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Nyack came to the Indianapolis Zoo from the San Diego Zoo in 2015 as part of the Species Survival Program. Together with Zuri, they produced a litter of three cubs. Their 3-year-old daughter, Sukari, was in the outdoor yard at the time of the incident. She was not hurt.

According to zoo officials, there were no reports of unusual aggression, injuries or wounds between Zuri and Nyack before Monday’s incident.

An investigation was underway to find out what happened.

The zoo said it has no plans at this time to change how the lions are managed and Zuri will remain in her female pair group with her daughter.

Hundreds of people with physical challenges are showing they can keep up with anyone.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) hosted a running clinic in La Jolla Saturday. Athletes of all ages participated, but it was the children who proved to be the most inspiring.

Instructors helped kids learn to run with their prosthetics. The children participated in an obstacle course, soccer, and many other sporting events that, in the past, may not have been accessible to children who are missing an arm or a leg.

“I’m looking forward to having fun, doing a bunch of stuff,” said Logan Passe, and eight-year-old with multiple amputations from Brooklyn, New York.

Logan was born with a congenital deficiency, and both of his legs were amputated before he turned two-years-old. He enjoys playing with other children who also where prosthetics.

“It’s nice because I can do it the way their comfortable, the way I’m comfortable, and it’s a win-win,” said Logan.

“As a mom, I’m super proud of him,” said Toni Passe, Logan’s mother. “He said mom, I just want to learn how to jump, so today watching him run, it’s a dream come true to us.”

The ability to help kids like Logan is what inspired Sarah Reinersten to run in the recent Iron Man Triathlon in Hawaii. More than a decade ago, she became the first woman to finish the grueling race.

“I really thought about so many of these kids, that’s why I was running,” said Reinersten. “If you want to get back in the game of life, the next step is to learn how to run or walk better with more confidence.”

Over the last two decades, the Challenged Athletes Foundation has given out nearly $100 million in grants.

To learn more about the organization, check out its website.

For 18 years, the Kmart in McMurray, Pennsylvania, was like home for Joshua Englert.

He was 16 years old when he first started helping shoppers at the discount retailer's location near Pittsburgh. But last Sunday, the store's BlueLight went dark and the last sale was made.

To thank shoppers and the staff, Englert, now a store manager, dialed into the intercom one last time and delivered an emotional goodbye.

"I wanted to take this opportunity not to sell you 40-cent plaid skirts or 5-cent panties, but to instead thank you for supporting a lifetime of memories," Englert said as he choked up.

"I am the man I am today because of the people I have met here at Kmart," he added.

Englert recorded the message on his smartphone and posted the video to facebook. The reaction was huge with the video garnering more than 100,000 views and 1,000 reactions as of Saturday.

"I did not think I was going to be choked up like that," Englert told NBC News in an interview Saturday.

"I always use the intercom to announce specials and make sales announcement and I’m sort of known for adding some fun to them, so I thought on the last day the associates would appreciate me saying something sentimental. I didn’t know what I was going to say five minutes before I said it," Englert said.

Kmart has battled tectonic changes in the retail landscape over the past two decades. Once the second-largest discount retailer, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 and merged with Sears in 2004. The tumult resulted in the shedding of stores like Englert's location.

A second bankruptcy filing this month means even more Kmart and Sears stores are being shuttered.

Englert said while the community is sad to see their local store close, they "understand the business of it all."

As for Englert, he's started looking for a new job, but the people he bonded with at Store #4770 will always have a special place in his heart.

"We were definitely a family," he said. "Those relationships, that’s all what keeps us together is each other."

A Harbor Police Department car collided with a bicyclist on the outskirts of downtown Saturday.

The incident happened near West Laurel Street and Pacific Highway, the San Diego Police Department said.

The 58-year-old bicyclist was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, according to SDPD.

The officer was not injured.

SDPD Traffic Division is currently investigating.

No other information was available.

A Michigan photographer is asking for the collective power of the internet to help him find a couple of whom he took a stunning picture in what he believes was the moment they got engaged at Yosemite National Park. 

Matthew Dippel tweeted the photo, saying he took it at Taft Point at Yosemite on Oct. 6. "Twitter help, idk who these two are but I hope this finds them," he wrote. 

The image is jaw-droppingly incredible, capturing the moment the man gets down on one knee and takes the woman's hand. They're standing on a cliff, nothing around them except the park's majestic mountains. 

The tweet has had more than 192,000 likes and 86,000 retweets since it was posted Wednesday afternoon. As of early Friday, Dippel still had not found the couple, according to an updated post below the photo. 

Dippel, who was on a road trip and hike adventure with his pal at the time he captured the moment, told NBC's Grand Rapids affiliate WOOD-TV that he posted similar messages on Facebook and Instagram to no avail. 

"Honestly I'd like to give them just a big print of the photo because it's such an incredible moment,” he told WOOD-TV.

A 65-year-old woman crashed a Bird scooter Friday afternoon, fracturing her leg.

The woman was riding an electric scooter with her family downtown, the San Diego Police Department said.

She lost control, overturned, and fell onto the asphalt on Kettner Boulevard at around 1:45 p.m.

The 65-year-old sustained a fracture to her right femur, according to SDPD.

SDPD investigated the incident.

No other information was available.

A local nonprofit and the National City community came together to give Kimball Park a makeover.

ARTS is an organization designed to help young people learn about art and other means of creative expression, according to its website.

More than 50 volunteers helped paint, clean up trash, and set up solar-powered totem poles Saturday.

The new poles will light up the area known as Paradise Creek.

Local artist Vicki Leon designed the solar-powered totem poles and said each one is entirely unique.

The design included metal filled with pieces of acrylic glass that reflect light in different colors. It took a team of eight about 300 hours to complete.

“They’re basically in the theme of flight, and they make beautiful shadows,” Leon told NBC 7. “It becomes a part of the landscape, but in a way that brings a little more appreciation to it.”

The installations have two distinct sides. “There’s the shiny side and the textured side,” Leon said.

Volunteers also installed and painted new rocks and walkways in the area.

A new Free Book Library was also added to the creek. This will allow community members to take and give away books at any time.

ARTS used a $7,500 grant for supplies, according to its executive director, James Holliday.

“With the painting of benches, the painting of rocks, the putting in of the artwork you see - it just enhances the overall quality of life,” Holiday said.

ARTS hopes to improve other public spaces with the help of city partners and its team of volunteers.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing to have the community own something and walk through the park, their park, and be, like, oh, I did this - I did that, I contributed to that,” one volunteer said.

The Kimball Park beautification began at 10 a.m. Saturday.

A Latina woman was with family visiting from Guatemala when she says they were verbally harassed by a white woman for conversing in Spanish at a Virginia restaurant.

The family was confronted inside Andy’s restaurant in Lovettsville.

"She asked for passports; she said that she knew everybody in Loudoun County to get us out of here, and she started saying that we were supposed to speak English, but I'm like 'we’re not talking to you,'" said the victim, who asked to remain anonymous. "They're here visiting and they don’t know English, so how do you want them to speak English when they’re here just visiting?"

Part of the incident was caught on video.

“You don’t freeload in this f------ country,” the woman is heard saying on the video. “You get the f--- out, back to your f------ country.” 

Police were called but no charges were filed.

The owner of the restaurant said the woman who harassed the family is not welcome back.

The Spanish-speaking victim said her 7-year-old daughter was present during the profanity-laced attack. She told Telemundo 44 that she is sharing her story because of her daughter and hopes that other victims of bias-motivated harassment also speak out.  

"It's not fair that they do this to us, and even less acceptable if there are children present. It's not fair for any child to have to go through that. You just don't do that," the woman added.

San Diego State University held a rally with famous alumni to support Measure G, a campus expansion project for the SDCCU Stadium site.

Former MLB player Tony Gwynn Jr. and former NFL player Brian Sipe both came back to their roots to support the measure.

“There’s a big game inside tonight that’ll decide the future of the season, but there’s a bigger game on November 6 that’ll decide the future of the city,” said Bill Hammett, Friends of SDSU West Steering Committee Member.

Measure G’s investment in higher education and that impact on the county’s economy is what Hammett believes will make SDSU a good fit for the area.

But it’s not the only option for the site on the November ballot.

Measure E, also known as Soccer City, proposes to turn the stadium into an entertainment district, with an emphasis on live music.

“We bring something fun to every member of San Diego 365 days a year,” Nick Stone, Project Manager for Soccer City, told NBC 7.

Gwynn spoke at the rally to explain what the stadium’s future means to him.

“The only way I know my kids are going to have that opportunity [that I had] is if San Diego State is able to expand the campus,” Gwynn said.

Stone believes the area could give footing for Major League Soccer to come to San Diego, as well as football and music.

Proponents behind both measures have been vocal about the differences of each proposal.

The rally took place before the school’s homecoming game Saturday at the much sought-after stadium.

To learn more all the upcoming measures, NBC 7 has created a guide to the November 2018 ballot.

San Diegans spent more money on alcohol last year than any other metropolitan area in the nation, according to a new study by the Delphi Behavioral Health Group.

On average, each San Diego resident spent about $1,112 on alcohol in 2017, the study said. Seattle was $126 behind in second.

San Diegans spent the third-most in 2016, $2 behind Minneapolis-St. Paul. San Francisco spent the most that year with $1,131, according to the study.

The study broke down the average annual spending of Americans and found alcohol made up 0.8 percent of their total purchases.

Housing was number one at 33 percent, followed by transportation and food at 15.8 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

Alcohol spending is up nearly 57 percent since 1996, according to the study. This means Americans spend, on average, $175 more on alcohol a year than they did in 1996.

Americans between the age of 45 and 54 spent the most money on alcohol in 2016, but not by much, the study said. Other age groups only spent a few dozen dollars less for that year.

The west coast spent more than any other region, but, again, not by much.

The Delphi Behavioral Health Group used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Consumer Expenditure Survey.

To see the American Alcohol Expenditures study in full, go to Delphi Behavioral Health Group’s website.

The study comes out after a bottle of French Burgundy smashed the record for the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction, selling at $558,000.

On Friday the Saudi government finally admitted that writer Jamal Khashoggi had died inside its Istanbul consulate, saying he had been killed in a fight.

From the outset of his presidency, Trump has offered a warm embrace to Saudi Arabia and its ambitious royal heir, Mohammed bin Salman, believing he could help the U.S. confront Iran in the Middle East.

But the gamble appears to have backfired badly, experts and former officials tell NBC News, with the young prince now implicated in the killing of Khashoggi, who dared to criticize the regime.

A Fallbrook woman was killed after a hit-and-run Friday night.

The 56-year-old woman was walking on East Alvarado Street near Alvarado Court when she was struck, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The suspect’s car was described as a newer model red Ford Mustang, CHP said.

The car fled after hitting the woman, according to CHP.

Local fire personnel responded to the scene in Fallbrook shortly after.

She was transported to Palomar Medical Center where she later died.

The roads around the collision were closed until midnight Saturday.

CHP is currently investigating.

If anyone has information about this incident, call CHP at (858) 637-3800.

A motorcyclist was killed in a crash near Barona Speedway Saturday afternoon.

The motorcycle and a car collided on Wildcat Canyon Road around 1:30 p.m.

California Highway Patrol responded to the scene in the Ramona area.

The motorcyclist was trapped under the car after the crash, CHP said.

Bystanders were able to get the rider out from under the wreckage, according to CHP.

The motorcyclist died shortly after, CHP said.

Northbound lanes on Wildcat Canyon Road were shut down.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

A burglary suspect was tasered by a man and his son at an Encinitas nursery early Saturday, a sheriff's deputy said.

They broke into what appears to be an abandoned building in the 500 block of La Costa Avenue, near Anderson's La Costa Nursery, around 5:30 a.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The burglar was trying to steal from the building when a man and his son approached the suspect, according to the sheriff's watch commander.

The son tasered the suspect and his father tied the man up with a belt, the watch commander said.

The suspect was transported to an area hospital with unknown injuries.

It was unknown what relationship the man and his son have with the property.

Sheriff's deputies were at the scene well into the late afternoon investigating the incident.

The sheriff's department declined to comment further on the incident.

San Diego State University placed a fraternity on suspension after a student was injured at the fraternity house, the university announced late Friday night.

The school placed the fraternity on interim suspension to investigate a report of a student who required medical attention after being at the fraternity house, SDSU spokeswoman La Monica Everett-Haynes said.

“The health and wellbeing of all members of the campus community is of utmost importance to San Diego State University,” she said in a statement.

The university did not name the fraternity, but NBC 7 has confirmed it was the Kappa Alpha fraternity.

In a statement to NBC 7, the fraternity's national chapter said it is looking into the incident and “will be glad to report back when there are more facts known.”

SDSU did not specify what happened or when but did say it is reaching out to the person and the family to “offer support and resources.”

A party turned to "chaos" early Sunday when the floor of a clubhouse near Clemson University collapsed and left 30 people injured, police said.

Authorities were called about 12:30 a.m. to The Woodlands Apartments clubhouse in South Carolina after the building's first story floor gave way during a private party with Clemson University students and others. Chief of Police Jimmy Dixon described the scene as "chaos."

Video posted to social media showed people dancing before the floor caved in and crashed to the next level of the structure, leaving a large hole in the middle of the room. Dozens of people fell through while many still standing looked on or recorded the incident with their phones. People could be heard shouting and screaming in the footage.

Thirty people sustained non-life threatening injuries including fractures, broken bones and lacerations. Those injured were taken to local hospitals by Clemson University emergency services. Police said there were no entrapments.

"We're just thankful that it was not any worse than it was," Dixon told reporters.

The investigation is ongoing, and Dixon said the building's codes and structure will be evaluated.

Clemson sophomore Larissa Stone told the Independent Mail of Anderson that the room was "packed" and a popular song was playing when the floor collapsed.

"So everyone was jumping. The beat was about to drop and literally the whole floor collapsed," she said. "It happened so quickly. I stood up, and everyone was trying to climb out. People are under other people. People are hurt. People are bleeding. I had blood on my sneakers. It was really bad."

A witness who attended the party said people were jumping when he heard a sudden "boom."

"All you seen was falling, everybody's hands up in the air," Franzie Pendergrass told WYFF News 4.

Leroy Pearson said he went to try to help injured people and saw what he thought looked like broken ankles and legs.

"It was crazy," Pearson said.

Property manager Tal Slann told The Associated Press that the condominium complex was built in 2004-2005. He said he could not comment on whether there was a limit on the number of people who were supposed to use the clubhouse at one time.

"I can tell you there was a party. I can tell you there was a floor collapse. There were injuries. They were not life-threatening. Nobody was trapped," he said.

Slann sent residents of The Woodlands an email saying the floor in front of the clubhouse fireplace had collapsed during a party.

"The Clubhouse and pool area is OFF LIMITS to all," said a copy of the email texted to the AP. "The clubhouse will be inspected by structural engineers as soon as possible. From there, the homeowner's association will determine how to rebuild the clubhouse to make it safe for all residents. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who were injured and we apologize for any inconvenience."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three people remained missing and 15 people were rescued off a fishing boat that caught fire about 28 miles south of Point Loma on Saturday night, including two who were badly burned, officials said.

The survivors were rescued by crews from a nearby fishing vessel, the Time Machine, including the two burn victims. Three other people are still missing, the survivors told rescuers.

Crews of the U.S.-based Time Machine contacted the U.S. Coast Guard around 9:35 p.m. to report a fishing boat on fire and several people in the water.

The Coast Guard responded with a 45-foot Response Boat and a helicopter while Mexico's Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR) also responded with two defender boast to assist.

The Coast Guards helicopter airlifted the burn victims to burn center at UCSD Medical Center, Hillcrest. The victims suffered burns to most of their body and are in critical condition, officials said.

The 13 survivors were transferred from the Time Machine to a SEMAR boat and taken to Ensenada, Mexico, according to the Coast Guards

SEMAR has resumed the search for three missing people with the Coast Guard's assistance.

A 45-year old man was shot during an argument at a Mountain View liquor store late Saturday night, police said.

The shooting happened around 10:10 p.m. after a man walked up to the victim at Ocean View Liquor and started an argument, San Diego police Officer Robert Heims said.

During the argument, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the victim multiple times, he said.

The shooter then left, walking southbound across Ocean View Boulevard, the officer said.

The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening wounds by his mother, Heims said.

The suspect was described as a black man wearing glasses, a black hoodie and baggy blue jeans.  

San Diego Fire-Rescue hazardous materials teams are being called to the scene of abandoned barrels left on the city sidewalk in Rancho Peñasquitos on Sunday morning.

San Diego police requested the hazmat units around 9:20 a.m. after a police sergeant spotted the blue barrels on the sidewalk at the 9900 block of Kika Court.

The barrels contained an unknown substance, SDFD spokesman Jose Ysea said.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.