An airplane en route to San Diego from Philadelphia had difficulty landing at Lindbergh Field Tuesday night, according to the airport manager.

U.S. Airways Flight 669 declared an emergency after experiencing a problem with a flap, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The airport manager said the Airbus A320 flew in circled over North County as it tried to troubleshoot what was described as some "major" flap problems.

• Read: Sex Offender Sues to End "300 Feet From Parks" Rule

Passengers on board said the plane circled for about an hour.

"We all panicked a little bit," one woman told NBC 7. "We were up in the air for almost an hour. They were trying to keep us calm."

"I was just praying to God. Everything just went well but yeah, it was kind of scary."

Passenger Anthony Diaz said he's happy to be back home.

"Now we're truly blessed. Back in San Diego. Back to work tomorrow so, we'll be fine," Diaz said.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews were called to the runway as a precaution.

The plane landed safely just before 10 p.m.

The latest civil lawsuit to hit San Diego over the Bob Filner scandal also points fingers at his security detail.

Marilyn McGaughy is suing Filner and the city after she claims she was sexually battered and violated during an event in May of 2013 at Johnson Elementary School in Emerald Hills.

“He was playing around with breast by playing with her tag. She had a name tag on her shirt, and he was kind of messing with it too long” said her attorney Dan Gilleon. “He did kiss her on the forehead and asked her out and that whole thing, the whole series. We’ve seen that before.”

The lawsuit claims, “Filner’s body guards, employed by the city, were present and witnessed Filner’s wrongful conduct, however failed to stop Filner or protect McGaughy” and “Filner’s body guards would look the other way when he would engage in inappropriate or wrongful conduct, a violation of the city’s zero tolerance policy."

• Read: Sex Offender Sues to End "300 Feet From Parks" Rule

No one from the security detail team is named in the lawsuit and Gilleon says they won’t be in the future, but he does believe this makes the city more culpable.

“They just simply looked away and said ‘our duty of loyalty is solely with Mr. Filner.' There’s no other way to explain what they were doing," Gilleon said.

The San Diego City Attorney’s office tells NBC 7 this is the third pending civil case of its kind and they will defend the city.

Last August, when first presented with details of this case, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said the city wouldn’t just start handing out money to accusers.

• Read: Troubled Plane Circled for an Hour Before Landing

“I don’t want to be insensitive to people that had inappropriate conduct directed to them, but not every time there’s inappropriate conduct do you get to recover $250,000,” Goldsmith said in previous interview with NBC 7.

Goldsmith said last August that the city will handle each claim concerning Filner on its own merits, first determining whether or not the city is liable by looking to see if the accuser is a city employee, volunteer or contractor.

“We’re responsible for sexual harassment on employees, should it be proven,” he said.

A father is thankful he taught his daughter to never talk to strangers after she boldly ignored a man who tried to pull her into his car last week.

Alexandra Smith, 13, was listening to music and walking toward La Mesa and Amethyst roads in Victorville April 10 when a man drove up beside her and tried to lure her into his car.

"(He said), 'Hey you, hey you, you know me, you remember me, I know you, get in the car, come on,'" Smith. "And I was like, 'No, I don't know you,' and I kept refusing."

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The girl's father, Erik Hughes, warned her in the past what to do if this ever happened, and she followed his instructions.

"You've got to teach your kids no matter what age," Hughes told NBC4. "You know, teach them young. Don't get into a vehicle that you don't know."

He was surprised anyone would attempt such a brazen move in broad daylight, especially near an intersection where a daycare and elementary school are next to each other.

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"It's a sad thing that we've got to deal with this," he said. "We've got to watch our kids 24/7."

The girl ran from the scene until she found an adult she recognized. They tried to find the car to get its license plate number, but the man was nowhere to be found.

The man’s vehicle was described as a 1990s-model Chevy Caprice or Toyota Corolla with black spray-painted rims.

Hughes is hoping someone recognizes the car and calls the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

"If he did it once, he’s going to do it again," he said.

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San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators said they haven’t received any other reports of similar incidents.

Children and teens with cell phones should attempt to videotape or photograph anyone who approaches them with aggressive behavior, officials said.

"It’s another way of telling them, 'I know who you are,'" San Bernardino Sgt. Ken Lutz said. "Pull the cell phone out. Even if they can't turn the cell phone on, the suspect doesn't know that."

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Parents were shaken in the area and on high alert since the incident took place last week.

"I will not let them walk home, I just prefer to pick them up," said a parent who asked to remain anonymous.

Officials are asking anyone who recognizes the vehicle to call the department at 760-245-4211.

Transportation Security Administration agents found a knife stuffed inside a woman's carry-on tray of enchiladas at a Northern California airport, but she was still allowed to fly.

The TSA says security at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa noticed something suspicious in the woman’s carry-on luggage Monday morning. They opened it up and found a knife in the middle of a tray of enchiladas.

“Looks like homemade enchiladas,” TSA’s public affairs spokesperson tweeted.

The passenger reportedly told agents she has no idea how the 8 ½-inch knife got there.

• Flight Attendant Turns Safety Announcement Into Comedy Sketch

The agents took the knife and the Alaska Airlines passenger was allowed through security and onto her plane.

TSA’s public affairs office tweeted out pictures of the hidden knife. (Editor’s note: The office’s initial tweets erroneously state the knife was found at Oakland International Airport).  

1/2 #TSA @IFlyOAKland found this in the carry on bag of @AlaskaAir passenger this a.m. Looks like homemade enchiladas pic.twitter.com/3nulWLSQdJ

— TSAmedia_NicoM (@TSAmedia_NicoM) April 14, 2014

2/2 hidden inside the enchiladas, this 8.5 inch #knife. LEOs responded, and cleared passenger. pic.twitter.com/3HTyKOC4su

— TSAmedia_NicoM (@TSAmedia_NicoM) April 14, 2014

After a car jumped the curb and crashed into the side of a Poway home, the driver was arrested and accused of driving under the influence, officials said.

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies arrested the man behind the wheel of a car that crashed into the side of a garage along Robison Boulevard just before 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The driver wasn’t injured.

The garage and the car had moderate damage, officials said.

No one in the home was injured.
 

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies are asking the public to look at the face of a construction company owner suspected in a string of burglaries to make sure there are no other potential victims.

Carlos Barajas, 31, was arrested April 9 in Ramona and faces charges of check fraud and burglary.

Deputies claim Barajas was hired two months ago by a Vista homeowner to do some water damage repairs.

In March, the homeowner went to deputies when she discovered some of her checks were being cashed without her signature.

She also reported a missing ring.

Now, deputies have issued an alert to anyone who may have had remodeling work done by Barajas or his company, RB Remodeling and recently filed a crime report.

Contact Detective Byron Barrios at (760) 940‐4600.

Some San Diego-area gun shop customers are getting their first reassurances after claiming their personal information was taken in a raid by federal agents.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (ATF) raided Ares Armor shops in March.

Video shared with NBC 7 showed agents rushing into the store and removing computers and other items from the store in National City.

At the time, customers of the gun parts store were concerned about what would happen to their personal information.

Now, the ATF says it's taking appropriate steps to safeguard that info.

The agency says it does not use the data for things unrelated to the investigation.

One East County lawmaker said it appears the ATF is staying true to its word.

"There will need to be constant oversight of the ATF to ensure there is no overreach or unlawful activity," said U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) 50th District.

According to the company's CEO, agents took Polymer 80% receivers and computers containing customer information.

NBC 7 contacted ATF just after the raid and received this statement:

"Ares Armor is under investigation for federal firearms violation. We served a lawful federal search warrant at a number of their businesses."

Two New Jersey teens are facing criminal charges after allegedly sharing nude photos of other teens, some of whom were engaging in sex acts, police said.

The Little Falls Police Department said Wednesday that a 16-year-old West Orange boy was arrested after he texted eight naked photos of a 17-year-old girl to a 16-year-old girlfriend from Little Falls.

That friend is then accused of showing the photos to others, and may have posted them on social media, police say. 

The girl is also believed to have sent other videos and photos of underage teens engaging in sex acts to other juveniles.

The teens are charged with endangering the welfare of a child by possessing child pornography. Both teens were released to the custody of their parents.

Police are urging parents to explain to their children that sending, taking and sharing of naked photos of juveniles is a crime. 

San Diego State University students were awakened by an intense fire that damaged a satellite house for a fraternity.

The fire began just after 5a.m inside a nearby dumpster and then spread to the home at 5077 College Avenue, officials said.

It appears someone threw cigarette butts or matches into the trash, officials said.

Five residents of the home and people living in nearby apartments had to be evacuated while San Diego Fire Rescue crews battled the flames.

• Read: Troubled Plane Circled for an Hour Before Landing

Nearby resident Jake Goldsworthy told NBC 7 by the time he got outside of his apartment, the fire appeared to be out of control.

“The entire side of the backyard on our side was engulfed in flames,” Goldsworthy said.

He said the heat from the fire was so intense that it melted the blinds in his apartment and cracked the windows.

Officials say it took 30 firefighters to knock the fire down in 25 minutes.

Firefighters said the fire didn’t get into the building except for attic so most of damage to home is smoke damage.

There were approximately a dozen people living inside the home who will be displaced due to the damage, officials said.

No one was injured.

• Read: Sex Offender Sues to End "300 Feet From Parks" Rule

Residents will be allowed back into the home to get their belongings but one fire official told NBC 7 “if it were me, I’d be looking for a new place to live.”

An accidental kitchen fire sent a Solana Beach man to the hospital with serious burn injuries covering half of his body, officials said.

A friend and neighbor of the victim said he immediately ran out of his home when he noticed all of the commotion outside the studio apartment on South Cedros Avenue around 2 a.m.

“I feel sick to my stomach,” David Cadigan said when he learned about the victim.

Fire crews had to force their way inside and found the fire was coming from the kitchen area.

They were able to get the fire out fast and that's when they found one man inside, officials said.

Emergency personnel performed CPR on the victim and transported him to the UC San Diego Burn Center.

Nearby apartments were evacuated as a precaution.

• Read: Sex Offender Sues to End "300 Feet From Parks" Rule

As protocol, investigators with the Metro Arson Strike Team (MAST) were called to look into the cause of the fire.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
 

Federal agents raided a tax service business out of Miramar several days ago as part of an investigation launched by the Internal Revenue Service.

Clients stopped by the offices of L & T Works Tuesday and found a sign posted in the window explaining that owners are meeting with attorneys regarding the recent raid.

Collin McInroy works in the shopping center where the tax preparers’ office is located and saw six or seven cars drive up.

“It was just like a movie they screeched up, they ran up and you heard 'Get on the ground. Get on the ground,’” McInroy told NBC 7.

IRS officials confirm they are investigating the business but did not reveal details.

Mona Aquino owns Pauly’s Pizza Joint nearby and said she the company has been open just a few months but appeared to be busy.

“The couple it's a husband and wife. They’re very good people,” Aquino said.

The company did not respond to requests from NBC 7.

The message to clients posted on their door reads, "Please do not be worried if you have submitted your w-2 10-99, etc. correctly. You are fine. IRS checking to make sure we are in compliance. We have all client's names, pin numbers. You will be contacted within the next 48 hours if necessary."
 

San Diego firefighters battled a fire at an oceanfront condominium complex in Mission Beach Wednesday morning.

Crews responded to the 2900 block of Ocean Front Walk just after 10 a.m. after receiving reports of heavy smoke on the first floor of the four-story building.

Officials say the electrical fire started in a kitchen wall, which made it difficult for crews to access. A team of 28 firefighters was able to keep the fire from spreading to the other floors.

A crowd gathered on the Mission Beach Boardwalk to watch the firefighters in action. The fire out in about 45 minutes.

Fire officials estimate the damage at $150,000 to the building and $100,000 to the contents.

No one was injured.

A registered sex offender has filed a lawsuit against National City, claiming a local ordinance banning  him from areas popular with children has "diminished" his ability to enjoy life. 

Frank Lindsay, 61, of Grover Beach, Calif. spoke with KSBY-TV about a lawsuit he filed last week challenging the National City ordinance that he claims affected a recent vacation.

KSBY reports that Lindsay was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 in 1979.

"It was an error that I had made, and I've lived the past 35 years as an upstanding citizen," Lindsay told the television station.

He now works with a nonprofit called Reform Sex Offender Laws that has helped to file lawsuits in 71 California cities to change local ordinances limiting the movements of convicted sex offenders.

“I feel diminished in my ability to enjoy life,” explained Lindsay. “Everywhere they're casting dispersions like I'm going to attack again and that's not the case."

The latest municipality in Lindsay's crosshairs is National City. He's the plaintiff in a suit filed last week against the city.

• Read: Troubled Plane Circled for an Hour Before Landing

The state regulates where sex offenders like Lindsay can live. In 2005 National City passed an ordinance keeping registered sex offenders from parks and places of amusement as an extra layer of protection.

Under the rule, convicted sex offenders must stay 300 feet away from places children frequent like Kimball Park where Angela and Calvin Sanders' kids like to play.

"I think it needs to be enforced,” said Angela Sanders holding her 9 year-old daughter. "I think there is no excuse."

Lindsay said the ordinance limited his ability to travel while visiting family in National City.

"That's not allowing me to enjoy my wholeness. I couldn't do anything but sit in their house," Lindsay said.

Mayor Ron Morrison called the legal action "annoying." In his view, when a person commits a crime, he or she loses some rights.

"The area of being a sexual predator toward children... I'm sorry, you do lose, you cannot sit up and say 'I've got all my rights,'" Morrison said.

Morrison says because of Lindsay's suit and recent court rulings shooting down sex offender laws in other California municipalities, National City police are no longer enforcing their sex offender ordinance.

An appeals court has ruled the local ordinance supersedes the state's laws and so National City officials  are waiting to see how the State Supreme Court will rule.

"The primary rights we were trying to protect were the rights of children to grow up safely," explained Morrison.

"This is just one tool in our toolbox," the mayor said, adding that the city is building new bathrooms in the parks that will be more family-friendly and will be monitored by surveillance cameras.

"Parents can know we are going to be pre-emptive on anything that could happen," he said.

A man was killed when his motorcycle collided with another car near a shopping center parking lot in Spring Valley Wednesday.

California Highway Patrol officers said the victim, a man in his 20s, was traveling westbound on Jamacha Boulevard near Sweetwater Road around 6:20 a.m.

The motorcyclist collided with a car making a left turn onto Jamacha from a shopping center.

The man was transported to Mercy Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the Buick was not injured in the crash.

• Read: Troubled Plane Circled for an Hour Before Landing

An employee from the McDonald’s near the crash scene claims the driver of the Buick stopped in for coffee but the restaurant’s system was down. She said the man appeared to be “in a rage” when he walked out of the restaurant moments before getting behind the wheel and colliding with the motorcycle.

NBC 7 spoke with the driver of the Buick and he told us the incident inside the McDonald’s had nothing to do with the crash.

CHP officers questioned the Buick's driver before he left the scene.

CHP investigators were on scene taking measurements.

Fellowship Church in Grapevine is attempting to set the world record for the largest chalk drawing.

The church, led by Pastor Ed Young, is coloring a drawing of Jesus Christ that spans nearly 17,000 square feet, according to a statement on their website.

It took 6,700 individual pieces of chalk to create the portrait, and 125 bags of charcoal, according to a church representative.

The purpose of "Chalk Jesus" is to get people interested in and talking about the church in the days leading up to Easter.

"We believe the church should be the most creative entity on the face of the planet. Not boring, not humdrum," said Derric Bonnot with Fellowship Church. "But it should be out there thinking up new ways to tell the story of who Jesus is and who God is. And so hopefully this just catches people's attention to want to see more and want to know more."

Bonnot told NBC DFW hundreds of volunteers helped to make the portrait possible. Most were members of the mega church, which has six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But many of the volunteers were people who learned about the effort from social media, the radio or from the television, Bonnot said.

"Honestly, I think it speaks to people," said church member Roger Moreno about the portrait. Moreno brought his son, Luciano, 2, to help. "To show him that it's a good thing to give back and not just be so selfish."

"That actually shows that we actually still care and [we are] trying to make a difference in somebody's life," Moreno added.

The portrait will stay in place through Sunday's Easter services, at which point congregation members will then wash it away.

Despite their 12-plus hour drawing effort, if rain showers come before Sunday, Bonnot said the church understands that may make the chalk Jesus "an abstract art piece."

The conjoined twins who were separated at Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas have left the hospital for an inpatient rehabilitation center.

"We are thrilled beyond words that we are here today," the boys' mother Jenni Ezell said Wednesday.

The boys were born in July and were connected from the chest to the belly button. They shared a liver and intestines until doctors at Medical City Dallas Hospital separated them a month later.

Owen and Emmett Ezell left the Dallas hospital eight months after their surgery and a day after turning 9-months-old.

"This is a big day we have been waiting on a long time, we have been ready to bring these boys home for months now so this is a good thing," said the boys' father Dave Ezell.

It was an emotional departure for the hospital staff, the team of doctors and nurses who have cared for them in the neonatal intensive care unit since their birth and separation surgery in August.

"I just can't thank them enough we are so happy and grateful," said Jenni Ezell. "They are like family to us. It is hard to say goodbye until later."

While at rehab, the boys' parents will learn to manage those tubes until the boys can eat on their own.

"When we first learned they were conjoined we never imagined, that we would be here but it has come and it is time now time to keep loving them and watching them develop and grow," said Dave Ezell. "We are in charge of their care, we get to take care of the babies. So it is like the beginning of this whole new world for us, where it is going to be physically exhausting, it's going to be amazing." 

The Ezells home the boys can go home for good in a month.

The family has been chronicling the boys' progress, since their separation surgery in August 2013 on The Ezell Twins blog.

The Ezells are selling T-shirts through their blog that read, "The Works of God Displayed in Them, John 9:1-3."

The funds donated go into a trust fund set up for Emmett and Owen and their direct care.

More: The Ezell Twins blog | The Ezell Twins T-Shirts | Contribute

Witnesses described a scene of chaos in Monterey Park on Wednesday as 15 people were hurt in a crash involving two fire trucks, including one that plowed into a restaurant.

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Lu's Dumpling House owner Vivian Lu said a man was on the sidewalk when the 40,000-pound fire engine jumped the curb, pushing him as it slammed through her restaurant near Garfield and Emerson avenues about 3:25 p.m.

When the fire truck came to a stop, a man was found pinned beneath it.

Cellphone video captured the moment when a firefighter attempted to help the man under the front bumper of the engine. The victim was believed to be hospitalized in critical condition.

"A lot blood,” Lu said. ”I see a lot blood."

Lu said the impact of the crash also pushed a built-in cashier's table across the floor, sending a waitress into a wall and making the building unstable.

Six firefighters suffered minor to moderate injuries, and eight other people had minor injuries. One person was in critical condition. A total of 15 people were hurt.

"I see a few people sitting on the street and all this blood," Lu said.

The crash happened down the street from Garfield Medical Center, where many of the victims were being taken on foot by firefighters.

The crash occurred when a fire truck and a fire engine crashed while responding to a house on fire. Both trucks were blaring sirens and running lights, one truck from Montery Park Fire Department and the other from the Alhambra Fire Department. All firefighters on board were wearing ear protecting headsets to dampen the sirens noise.

"It is ear protection from the noise of your own sirens so they do diminish the sound from outside," Alhambra Fire Department Chief Bill Walker said.

Neighbors ended up helping put out the house fire that both departments were responding to at the time of the crash.

Authorities in San Diego’s North County are searching for three teenagers accused of ransacking a 7-Eleven store and stealing thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets from the business.

According to deputies, the burglary happened on Apr. 6 at a 7-Eleven located at 298 Sycamore Ave. in Vista.

At around 4 a.m., two unknown male teenagers broke the glass front door of the store and swiped alcohol and several cartons of cigarettes. About an hour later, they came back for more loot – this time with a third suspect.

The teenage trio proceeded to steal more alcohol and cigarettes from the store, plus lottery tickets.

Deputies said the stolen goods were worth more than $2,000. During the burglary, the teens made a huge mess inside the store and caused damage to the cash register and a computer.

The suspects were captured on surveillance tape, and those images were released by authorities for the first time Wednesday.

Investigators describe the first two suspects as Hispanic teens, both between 15 and 18 years old. One suspect was 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 and approximately 140 pounds, while the other was 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-6, approximately 130 pounds.

The first suspect wore a grey hooded sweatshirt, black shorts, white socks and dark shoes with a white emblem on the back during the burglary. The latter suspect wore a grey hooded sweatshirt with the word “Cali” on the front, black pants and red and black tennis shoes.

The third suspect that joined in later is described as an African American teen between 15 and 18 years old. He was 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-5 and about 145 pounds. He wore a green hooded sweatshirt with the word “Knotts” on the front, black pants and black shoes.

The teens remain outstanding and the case is still under investigation.

Anyone with information on the suspects should call the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in this case.

One person was killed during rush hour Wednesday night in Kearny Mesa, according to fire officials.

The accident happened at 5:48 p.m. in the HOV lane on northbound Interstate 15, just south of State Route 163.

The California Highway Patrol issued a Sig Alert and shut down two lanes of traffic.

There is no word on the victim’s identity or on what caused the crash.

Check back for updates.