Ruby, a 38-year-old Beluga whale that had been at SeaWorld for 17 years, has died, park officials said Thursday.

The female whale that lived with the other Belugas at the park’s Wild Arctic attraction came to SeaWorld San Diego in 1997 from another zoo.

Ruby died Thursday and park officials said they will perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death. The necropsy is expected to take several weeks to complete.

SeaWorld officials say at 38, Ruby lived longer than the average lifespan for a Beluga whale, which is 32.8 years.

You can still see Ruby’s offspring at SeaWorld. She gave birth in 2010 to Pearl, one of five other Belugas at the park.

An inmate was found dead inside his jail cell Thursday at the San Diego Central Jail, leading to a one-hour lockdown at the facility, a sheriff’s department official confirmed.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Melissa Aquino told NBC 7 the inmate was found dead around 1:30 p.m. at the downtown jail. The facility went on lockdown until about 2:30 p.m. while officials investigated. The jail then resumed normal operations, she said.

Aquino said Sheriff’s Homicide Detail was called to the jail to investigate the in-custody death, which is protocol for this time of case.

The San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the inmate’s cause of death. Aquino could not comment on the condition in which the inmate was found including whether or not he sustained any injuries.

The inmate’s name was not released.
 

 The arrival of 140 undocumented immigrants in the San Diego area has spurred concern among some residents, claiming the families pose a health risk to the region.

U.S. Border Patrol agents worried about infectious disease donned face masks as they transported the women and children to facilities in Otay Mesa, Imperial Beach and Boulevard Station.

At least ten of the Central American children who arrived Tuesday have been taken to area hospitals with unknown illnesses, and another ten have been quarantined with active scabies, according to Border Patrol agents.

The concerns are valid, but only to a certain degree, said Lilia Schmidt, a medical doctor in Hillcrest.

“If they were coming to our community, it’s no different than us going to their community,” said Schmidt.

Along with scabies, Border Patrol agents say tuberculosis presents one of their major concerns. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, a total of 9,945 cases were reported in 2012, and 63 percent occurred among foreign-born people.

But Schmidt said both tuberculosis and scabies are curable and should not pose a risk with proper testing, treatment and follow-up.

That last step is the hardest part.

"Lack of follow up is a major concern because I think a lot of people get afraid that they don't want to follow up because they're concerned that someone will find out something about them and then deport them,” said Schmidt.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say about 33 percent of immigrants do not return for court dates after their release.

Schmidt said another way to battle against the spread of any illness is to ensure you are up-to-date on all your vaccinations.

Residents who were evacuated Thursday morning following a fast-moving brush fire that threatened 200 homes near Julian were allowed back to their homes at 8 p.m. Thursday, officials said.

The 150-acre Banner Fire was 15 percent contained Thursday evening after it was first reported at 10:38 a.m. in the Whispering Pines area, according to Cal Fire. It sparked along Banner Grade in the area east of downtown Julian, officials said.

Two homes and an outbuilding along Woodland Road were destroyed by fire and one firefighter was taken to the hospital with injuries. The firefighter’s condition Thursday evening was not immediately known.

The fire stretch to 150 acres by afternoon, but firefighters said as of 2 p.m. that they were making good progress, though the rough terrain surrounding the fires posed a challenge for crews.

“Smoky, red, horrible,” one resident said of the fire, which came up right behind his home.

San Diego County sheriff's deputies evacuated residents in the Kentwood and Whispering Pines areas, as well as those living along Ramona Drive.

Residents interviewed by NBC 7 said they were grateful they evacuated when they did.

“As we walked out the door, that's when we discovered the fire,” said evacuee Adrianne Murtagh. “We’re so relieved we could bring the pets with us and not have to worry about them.”

More than 100 firefighters were on the scene, aided by a half-dozen aircraft, including two helicopters and four air tankers, Cal Fire officials told NBC News. There were also two water tenders and an air tanker from the U.S., along with one hot shot crew and five engines.

State Route 78 at Manzanita Drive and Manzanita Drive at Lakeview Drive were closed to traffic, according to deputies.

Officials originally established Julian High School as a temporary evacuation site but then dedicated Jess Martin County Park, located at 2955 Highway 79, as a new evacuation center.

As of 5 p.m., evacuees were then told to head to Julian High School before later being allowed to return home.

At the fire's peak, a large plume of smoke over the mountains in San Diego's East County was visible from as far away as El Cajon.

Weather in the area is about 90 degrees, with a relative humidity of about 14 percent. Winds of about 5 to 10 mph were pushing the embers among dry fuels.

The small mountain town is near a section of Cleveland National Forest.

View Banner Grade Fire in a larger map

Five people were arrested Friday as crowds of protesters and immigrant rights supporters gathered outside a Southern California Border Patrol facility where another convoy of buses carrying undocumented immigrants was expected to arrive.

Tensions were running high as three women and two men were arrested after scuffles broke out about 4 p.m. between demonstrators in Murrieta. Police said the altercation began when a woman on one side of the crowd pushed a person from the other side. An officer who witnessed the shoving stepped in to make an arrest.

• Images: SoCal Immigration Crisis

"At one point in time, at least one of the females jumped on the back of the officer," said Murrieta Police Cpt. Dennis Vrooman.

Four people were taken into custody for allegedly trying to remove someone from the custody of a police officer, Vrooman said.

Border patrol agents set up cones and a stop sign along a road in Murrieta, a community of about 106,000 people about 80 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, as a crowd camped out in anticipation of the buses. One person was detained early Friday for interfering with a police officer after refusing to stay behind a line of yellow police tape, according to authorities.

Many of those opposed to the transfer of the undocumented immigrants to California from Texas carried anti-immigration signs and American flags. Other members of the crowd voiced support for the immigrant families, whose transfer and release created a strong divide between those who want to help and those who don't want them here at all.

"I just want the buses to come through and these women and children taken car of," one woman said.

• Read: Video Shows CHP Officer Striking Woman

The gathering comes three days after protesters blocked buses that were supposed to arrive at a Murrieta border patrol center on Tuesday, forcing federal authorities to process the passengers at other Southern California locations. As of Friday morning, it remained unclear what time the immigrants would arrive.

Protesters said they plan a repeat of Tuesday's events.

"When the buses come, you are going to see Americans that are willing to throw themselves under the bus, that's what you are going to see," demostrator Greg Allison said ahead of the migrants' arrival. "I don't care if I lose a limb. Even if the buses get past me and I lose a limb, guess what? The rest of the country is going to take notice."

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Among the protesters was a lone pro-immigrant sign written in Spanish that read, "No tengan miedo," which translates to "don't be scared."

"I hope they know that there are people supporting them," demonstrator Briana Trejo said.

A line of people waited, meanwhile, with bags filled with clothes and other necessities to help the hundreds of mostly women and children from Central America who are being transferred from Texas to Southern California. Some members of the crowd said they wanted to stop the buses from entering the station because they feared the detainees would be subjected to crowded conditions.

• FAQ: Border Crisis Concerns

In a letter to President Barack Obama Thursday, Murrieta Mayor Alan Long said the "facility is not appropriate for" processing migrants.

"It is essentially a jail, designed to hold drug runners and criminals caught at the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-15 just south of Temecula," Long wrote.

Long, who has said Murrieta is dealing with the "failure of the U.S. immigration policy and process, and other city officials met with residents about the issue earlier this week at City Council and town hall meetings. Residents expressed health and safety concerns about upcoming migrant arrivals planned for the border patrol station.

"I understand that as a city we do not have a role in immigration policies, but we are certainly being affected by it," Long wrote in the letter.

Since the federal government isn't providing any funding, non-profits and community-based groups, will bear the financial burden of transitioning the migrants into American society, said Luz Gallegos, of the Training Occupational Development Educating Communities Legal Center in Perris.

"Organizations across the Inland Empire, even cities, are coming forward and saying, 'We're here to help,'" she said.

• Border Crisis: Videos, Stories, Timeline, Gallery

After being released from the Border Patrol, the migrants will most likely need food, shelter and clothing as they make their way to family and friends who will take care of them until their court date.

However, tensions are so high in the city that many organizations are not releasing information on where the migrants will be temporarily housed. And organizers don't know how much it will cost to care for them.

"We don't know exactly how much time they'll be spending," said Luis Nolasco, with the Justice for Immigrants Coalition. "It could be a couple of days, a few hours."

The fear is, without any help, they'll likely end up on the streets.

• Read: Murrieta Mayor's Letter to President

"It's not about the federal government dumping these people or not," Nolasco said. "But rather how we can as a community from the Inland Empire better assist all these people and make sure that all of them get here to their families and are safe."

NBC4's Gadi Schwartz, Lolita Lopez and Samia Khan contributed to this report.

The husband of a Southern California mom accused of fatally stabbing her three small children then trying to kill herself said he believes postpartum depression turned his wife into someone unrecognizable and he regrets having failed to read warning signs of the disease.

"I'm not a doctor but I know for a fact that was that disease, and it wasn't my wife,” Rudy Coronado said of his wife Carol on Thursday.

Carol Coronado, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the deaths of her young daughters in her Torrence home on May 20. Coronado also faces an attempted murder charge for allegedly trying to kill her mother at the time of the slayings. She was hospitalized after she tried to commit suicide by stabbing herself in the chest following the killings, police said.

Carol Coronado’s lawyer has now hired a psychologist to evaluate Carol Coronado for any signs of postpartum depression.

• Past Coverage: Mother Charged in Deaths of Children Could Face Death Penalty | Father Weeps in Court as Mom Pleads Not Guilty

Her husband, who spoke Thursday after Coronado was back in court, said there were “a lot of signs that I didn’t know how to read.”

"That's the reason why we need to bring awareness to (postpartum depression) because I was never educated on nothing like this," Rudy Coronado said. "I didn't have a clue. And I know, I know Carol, and she would never ever in a million years do anything like that to no one."

A witness told NBC4 that Carol Coronado was naked, covered in blood and "zoned out," when she was escorted out of the home the day the children -- 2-year-old Sophia, 1-year-old Yazmine and 3-month old Xenia — were killed.

"It's just hard you know? It's my, my daughters. It's just, just difficult you know," Rudy Coronado said. "It doesn't get easier by the day, it gets a little more harder."

Still, he defended his wife.

"Anything you can think of, of a great woman. That's Carol," Coronado said. "She doesn't deserve to be where she's at."

Though Carol Coronado has not been officially diagnosed, the family has set up the Coronado Angel Fund to help bring awareness to postpartum depression.

"We wanted to draw attention to the issue of postpartum depression and psychosis," family attorney Stephen Allen said during Carol's court appearance on May 29. "I think that more needs to be done to diagnose this type of disorder."

Anyone who wants to contribute can donate to the Coronado Angel Fund with Wells Fargo account number 3842930731.

A social media post by Los Angeles-based American Apparel that used an image of the space shuttle Challenger explosion was "re-blogged in error" by an employee born after the 1986 tragedy that killed seven astronauts, the company said.

The Tumblr post Thursday used a stylized picture of the shuttle breaking apart in a plume of smoke about one minute after launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Jan. 28, 1986. The post tagged as "clouds" was deleted Thursday night.

American Apparel tweeted the following apology Thursday night:

"We deeply apologize for today's Tumblr post of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The image was re-blogged in error by one of our international social media employees who was born after the tragedy and was unaware of the event. We sincerely regret the insensitivity of that selection and the post has been deleted."

• Read: Protests Planned as Buses Transport Immigrants

Challenger's seven crew members were killed in the disaster that put the shuttle program on hold and led to a lengthy investigation. The victims included Christa McAuliffe, a teacher selected to participate in a NASA space project.

The post comes about a month after the American Apparel's board moved to oust founder Dov Charney over sexual misconduct allegations involving employees. Charney has acknowledged the sexual relationships, but said they were consensual.

He said in a regulatory filing last month that he would fight the proposed firing.

• Read: Stolen Tesla Slams Into Synagogue

The company, founded by Charney in 1998, manufactures clothes and sells them in its own 249 retail stores in 20 countries and has about 10,000 employees in 20 countries.

With our sincerest apologies: pic.twitter.com/BOF43jScV0

— American Apparel (@americanapparel) July 3, 2014

An overnight high-speed police pursuit ended when a stolen Tesla Model S crashed into a Los Angeles-area synagogue and split in half early Friday morning, leaving the driver in critical condition. 

Multiple vehicles were involved in the fiery wreck after the chase and at least four people were taken to the hospital in West Hollywood.

At least four vehicles sustained significant damage and debris was scattered throughout the 1200 block of North La Brea Avenue. 

Police confirm that the Tesla driver crashed into a Honda that was carrying five people. Two of those people are serious condition and one is in critical condition, police said.

• WATCH: Video Shows CHP Officer Repeatedly Hitting Woman

The high-speed pursuit started around 12:50 a.m. when police tried to pull over the stolen high-end electric vehicle near the intersection of La Brea Avenue and Don Ricardo Drive in Ladera Heights.

The Tesla may have been going more than 100 mph according to officials.

The front half of the car was on fire in the street, the other half was wedged into what appeared to be the synagogue entrance.

The luxury car's driver was ejected from the vehicle and is in critical condition.

Two officers were taken to the hospital in with non-life threatening injuries after their unit crashed into a center median.

Ladies and gentlemen, your third place San Diego Padres!

Yes, you read that right. After an impressive sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, the Friars have surged into the middle of the pack in the National League West with a season-high four-game win streak. Now they get a matchup with a reeling San Francisco Giants club that has lost eight of 10 and 17 of their last 22 to relinquish the division lead.

Could this be a turning point in what has been a tumultuous season so far? Well, let’s not get carried away. But if this keeps up, people might focus a bit less on what may have been the worst month of hitting in the history of baseball and pay more attention to what has been some incredible pitching over the past few weeks.

That’s gotta be good for something, right?

Let’s break down this weekend’s Cali Civil War (North vs. South).

Matchups:
Friday, 7:10 p.m.: Eric Stults (L, 2-1, 5.38) vs. Matt Cain (R, 1-6, 4.38)
Each of Stults’ last eight decisions have been losses and the Padres have dropped eight of the last nine games he started. Cain is 0-3 since coming off the disabled list in June.

Saturday, 4:15 p.m.: Odressamer Despaigne (R, 2-0, 0.66) vs. Tim Hudson (R, 7-5, 2.59)
Just one run in his first 13 2/3 innings. Can O-Dog keep it up? Hudson has lost his last three starts after winning three in a row.

Sunday, 1:10 p.m.: Jesse Hahn (R, 4-1, 1.95) vs. Tim Lincecum (R, 7-5, 4.06)
Oh god, not Lincecum again. He was lights out last week in no-hitting the Padres for the second time in as many years. If anyone can match him right now, it’s the rookie Hahn, who has allowed just two earned runs in his four-game win streak.

What’s at stake: Don’t look now, but we might have some meaningful baseball in our future if this keeps up. The Padres are now just 9 ½ games out and only nine games under .500. It’s not time to get excited yet, but just something to think about.

As for the Giants, they looked like they were going to run away with the division a month ago but now find themselves looking up at the Dodgers in the standings – that’s not place anybody wants to be.

The Padres are 5-4 against the Giants this season, taking two from them in San Fran last week. They don’t face off again until playing each other in seven of the season’s final 10 games.

Who to watch:
Padres: The newly minted Seth Smith had four hits against the Reds and continues to lead the team in all major hitting categories, including home runs (9), RBI (25), batting average (.282) and walks (38).Carlos Quentin went yard on Tuesday for just the fourth time this season. He’s still hitting just .185 on the season.

Rene Rivera was the hero at the plate on Wednesday, driving in all three Padres runs with a first-inning single.

Giants: Hunter Pence has team highs in hits (100) and runs (60) and is riding a six-game hitting streak. Michael Morse leads the team with 13 homers and 44 RBI, but has just one hit in his last six games.

Angel Pagan leads the team in hitting (.307) but has been out since mid-June with a back injury.

Coming up: The division tour continues as the Padres hit the road to play the Rockies and Dodgers in what is probably the most important week-and-a-half of the season.

A motorhome fire in Jacumba turned into a small brush fire after flames extended into some nearby vegetation, Cal Fire officials said.

The fire began around 12:15 p.m. at Carrizo Gorge Road and Old Highway 80, just east of the Jacumba Airfield. Once it jumped from the motorhome to the brush, it scorched about two acres, Cal Fire officials said.

The fire burned south, in light fuel, toward the U.S.-Mexico border. No structures were threatened and no evacuations were ordered. Cal Fire was confident crews would be able to knock out the blaze quickly.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The long Fourth of July weekend got off to a violent start in Chicago as at least 15 people were shot, including two young teens, across the city since Thursday.

The weekend’s first homicide took place shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday in the 3800 block of West Monroe Street when two women were shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side.

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Police believe a botched drug deal may have been the cause of the shooting. Four masked men were seen firing guns, and stray bullets struck the women sitting on a porch nearby.

One woman, 21, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The second person, also 21, was shot in the arm, police said.

On Friday, a man was killed and another man was wounded in a shooting at a strip mall at 63rd Street and Damen Avenue.

Police said the men were standing outside a building when a black vehicle pulled up and someone inside the vehicle opened fire, striking both men.

A 34-year-old man was taken to Holy Cross Hospital and later pronounced dead. A 35-year-old man was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in critical condition, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Janel Sedevic.

Area South detectives are investigating the shooting, police said.

• West Town Apartments Evacuated After Sinkhole
  
• Parades, Fireworks Mark Fourth of July in Chicago Area
  
• 3 Hockey Players Robbed at Hawks' Practice Facility

The weekend’s first shooting involved a 14-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl, who were walking in the 4100 block of South Dearborn Street just after 3 p.m., police said.

The teens were walking southbound on Dearborn Street when someone in a vehicle heading northbound opened fire at them, according to authorities.

The 14-year-old boy was shot in the thigh and the 13-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to the thigh, officials said. Both teens were taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in stable condition and the girl has since been released.

Police said the boy is a documented gang member.

At least eight other people were shot in Chicago overnight.

• A man was seriously wounded after he was shot by police in the city's Rogers Park neighborhood around 11:20 a.m., according to authorities. Chicago police said officers were at the scene Friday afternoon and observed the man drinking on the sidewalk. He fled the officers on foot and led them on a chase through an apartment complex where he forced his way into an occupied residence, according to a police statement. The officers confronted the man in a backyard gangway area and the man told them he had a gun and reached for his waistband. Officers then shot them man, wounding him. The Chicago Fire Department said the man was transported to Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston in serious-to-critical condition.
• Around 5:20 a.m., a 21-year-old man walked into Mercy Hospital and Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the thigh. The man told police he was shot at 47th and Ada streets.
• Around the same time, an 18-year-old man was shot in the 4300 block of South Wood Street. The man told officers he was standing on the block when someone got out of a vehicle and fired at him. He was shot in the upper left leg and took himself to University of Illinois Chicago Hospital. He was later transferred to Stroger Hospital where he was treated and released, police said.
• About an hour earlier, police shot a man in the 7400 block of South Vincennes Avenue. Officers responding to a call about a person with a gun saw a man at the mouth of an alley and approached him to “conduct a field interview,” police said in a statement. The man fled on foot and while officers chased him he allegedly pointed his weapon at the officers, according to authorities. Officers shot the man, 23, in the chest and he was transported to Stroger Hospital in serious condition.
• Around 3:45 a.m. an 18-year-old woman was shot in the buttocks in the 2400 block of Homan Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood Homan Avenue. Details surrounding the shooting were not immediately available.
• Around 2:30 a.m., a 29-year-old man walked into Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the calf. The man told police he was walking eastbound in the 3500 block of West Lake Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood when he overheard a loud verbal altercation across the street between a group of men, police said. The man then said he heard shots and felt pain, according to authorities. He was transported by someone at the scene and was expected to be treated and released.
• Just before 3 a.m., someone walked into Saint Bernard Hospital in Healthcare Center and told police they were shot in the leg around 3 p.m. Thursday in the 8600 block of South Racine Avenue.
• Two hours earlier, a 56-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 7400 block of South Winchester Avenue. The man was taken to University of Chicago Hospital in good condition. Police said the man was highly intoxicated and unable to tell them what happened. Area Central detectives are investigating.
• Around 9:45 p.m. Thursday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the 600 block of North Ridgeway Avenue in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. Police said the man was shot in the stomach and arm and suffered a graze wound to the face. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition.

More than 30 Maryland cab companies are suing Uber, saying the company is hampering their ability to do business.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Baltimore Circuit Court, reported the Baltimore Sun. The lawsuit claims Uber's surge-pricing model is similar to price fixing, and the car service is creating an unfair marketplace.

Taxi companies have begun to fight Uber, a popular ride-sharing company that uses an app to summon rides. In D.C., taxis affiliated with the D.C. Taxi Operators Association closed down Pennsylvania Avenue last month in a protest against Uber that gridlocked traffic.

Virginia has barred Uber from operating in the state, and in San Francisco, the head of one of the oldest cab companies in the city has said that traditional taxis may not survive 18 months in the face of competition from Uber.

Maryland has become a new battlefront for the dispute, with cab companies lobbying against proposals to regulate Uber differently than cab companies.

The cab companies claim that services like Uber aren't regulated the same way that taxis are. Uber has countered that the ride-sharing model isn't a taxi service, and pointed to the consumer demand for the product.

Two of the companies that sued in Maryland -- Barwood Tax and Sun Cab -- are based in Montgomery County.

An Uber spokesperson says it's too early to comment on this lawsuit, but the company will defend itself if it has to.

A chartered airplane carrying another round of undocumented immigrant women and children landed in San Diego on the 4th of July.

The plane arrived just before 7 p.m.

The undocumented families and children from Central American were flown from Texas to San Diego for processing as part of a federal government plant to address the nation’s border crisis.

The group had been expected to be shuttled to Murrieta’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) station where hoards of both protesters and supporters awaited their arrival. However, as of Friday evening, it was not immediately clear whether the buses were, in fact, heading to Murrieta that evening.

Sources indicated seeing the buses traveling south from San Diego on Friday evening.

On Tuesday, protesters showed up in Murrieta, blocking buses carrying the first round of approximately 140 undocumented immigrants bound for the CBP facility. The heated demonstration forced federal authorities to send the passengers to smaller processing centers throughout San Diego County including Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Otay Mesa.

Protesters said they planned a repeat of Tuesday’s events.

Tim Donnelly was in Murrieta in opposition. He's concerned the undocumented children will be released to coyotes and drug traffickers, with American authorities making the process easier.

"I have a huge concern over whether our government is being made complicit in completing the trafficking circle. We could have sworn law enforcement actually completing the work of the cartels and coyotes by handing children over to a trafficker," Donnelly told NBC 7.

Tess Stein also came out to protest.

“I’m trying to make sense of what’s going on. I don’t understand where all these people are supposed to go. Why were they shipped here? It doesn’t make any sense. If someone wants to be in America, they should do it legally,” said Stein.

Orly Caitz agreed: “This nation is being flooded. This has to end.”

Despite the crowds of people gathered on both sides of the debate, the Murrieta Police Department said they could not confirm whether additional busloads of immigrants would actually arrive in their community Friday.

In a media release, the department did say the U.S. Border Patrol had originally reported buses of undocumented immigrants could be transported to the Murrieta CBP station every third day beginning on July 1. The department said the Border Patrol would ultimately have the final say on whether or not to keep using the Murrieta station as a facility to process the immigrants from Central America.

The police department also noted that officers have been assigned outside the facility to “maintain the peace, order and safety of demonstrators.”

The department said officers arrested one protester Friday morning for disobeying an officer. He was
booked and later released.

Meanwhile, pro-immigration supporters have also banded together. The San Diego-based nonprofit, Border Angels, has been accepting donations for the immigrant transfers all week.

On Friday, La Mesa resident Roberta Villaescusa brought oatmeal, water, toothbrushes and other personal hygiene items to the Border Angeles headquarters to donate to the women and children.

She was on her way to the beach for the 4th of July and felt compelled to stop and contribute.

“They’re kids and women in need, and who doesn’t help people in need?” said Villaescusa, holding back tears. “Aren’t we celebrating our freedom? Our freedom to reach out, help others and show them Democracy can work if you do.”

Another couple walked into the Border Angels headquarters with boxes of diapers while another man, Sam Dhubar, brought apple juice, eating utensils and lice medicine.

He too felt strongly about lending a helping hand.

“Independence Day for Americans means that you need to give independence to people running away from violence. If they’re knocking at their door, you need to make sure that your door is open for them," said Dhubar. "They have the same soul that is in your body and my body.”

The undocumented families and children will be released from CBP to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials for additional processing.

The priority is to reunite the immigrants with families members currently in the U.S., officials said.

They will be given a scheduled date for an immigration hearing and will be expected to return to federal authorities. Undocumented immigrants are typically released in anywhere from eight to 36 hours after detainment, officials said.

On Friday afternoon, an ICE spokesperson told NBC 7 she had no information regarding how many, if any, of the immigrants had been released.

Meanwhile, Enrique Morones of Border Angels said he also hadn't heard anything new about possible releases. He said he suspects some of the immigrants may be released in small numbers throughout the weekend.

A four-alarm grass fire erupted in Sacramento on Friday afternoon, prompting evacuations at the Cal Expo fairgrounds, where the city’s Fourth of July fireworks show is scheduled to take place Friday night.

The fire reportedly started shortly after 2 p.m. near Tribute Road and Highway 160. The grass fire was mostly extinguished by about 4:30 p.m., Cal Expo officials told The Sacramento Bee, but crews were still using extreme caution because the blaze was not completely out.

KCRA-TV reports the flames spread quickly along the banks of the American River and eventually carried over onto Cal Expo property.

Gate 12 at Cal Expo was shut down and people were evacuated from the Raging Waters waterpark, along with several other areas of the Cal Expo property.

• 4 Homes Catch Fire in Unincorporated Solano County

Fire crews were dealing with erratic winds, the Sacramento Fire Department's Roberto Padilla said. Padilla said, usually, "you don't see these conditions until August or September," KCRA reported.

No injuries have been reported.

A preliminary report indicated the fire had consumed about 40 acres, KCRA reported.

Sacramento's Independence Day Celebration was scheduled to conclude with a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. at the Miller Lite Grandstand at Cal Expo. As of 5:30 p.m., the fireworks show was still tentatively scheduled to take place, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating after cellphone video captured an officer repeatedly hitting a woman in the face as she lay flat on her back just off a Los Angeles freeway.

The video titled "Police Brutality?" was shot Tuesday evening from a vehicle entering the eastbound 10 Freeway near La Brea Avenue and posted on YouTube the following day. It runs for 1 minute, 30 seconds and includes footage of the incident in real time and in slow-motion.

The man who shot the footage, David Diaz, a self-described music producer, spoke with NBC4 about what he saw.

"She took a left, and the cop, the CHP ran after her, grabbed her to try to subdue her, and then she you know, kind of tried to shove it off...Was she intoxicated? Was she mentally ill? Possibly," Diaz said.

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"No one condones...when he gets on top of a woman, and this is a big officer, and he punches her repeatedly," Diaz said. "I think he punched her in the head 15 times."

The CHP said in a statement that it was "aware of the video and we are looking into the incident." The agency issued an updated statement Friday morning.

• Watch: Cell Phone Video Shows CHP Officer Hitting Woman

"The California Highway Patrol (CHP) just became aware of the video today and we are investigating the entire incident," according to the statement. "As a matter of policy, every time there is a use of force by our officers, there is a review conducted to determine whether the use of force was appropriate.  That will be done in this case, however, since there is an ongoing investigation, it would be premature to comment on this specific video segment. After the investigation is completed it will be reviewed at multiple levels within the Department."

The CHP did not immediately say what prompted the initial encounter.

The video footage begins as the CHP officer is standing next to a red pick-up truck on the freeway on-ramp. He makes his way across to a concrete median where he follows a woman who is walking there and is carrying a white bag.

Moments later, the officer tries to grab the woman's arm as she appears to resist.

As he tries to gain control over the woman, he throws her to the ground. While the woman is on her back, the officer holds her down and delivers about a dozen hits to her head and upper body in about 11 seconds, according to the video.

"These are like, grown men, on top of you punching you to a point where she could've died out there," Diaz said.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, appears to use her arms and hands to protect her face from the officer's blows. A second man joins the officer to help control the woman as she is placed in handcuffs.

"She was screaming," witness Daina Tate said. "Two men were on her. They had her arms up. She couldn't defend herself. She looked totally helpless and terrified.

"It was shocking, and you can't really call the cops on the cops."

Another witness who did not want to be identified told NBC4 the woman "did not look well, mentally" when she was walking along the freeway.

The woman was "carrying a lot of bags" and was not wearing shoes, only black socks, the witness said.

After she was brought down to the asphalt by the officer, the woman put her arms up "trying to guard herself," the witness said. "She looked terrified...she just looked gone."

 The biggest Independence Day fireworks spectacular in the county is set to launch over the San Diego Bay Friday, and if you plan to go, you’ll want to enjoy the pyrotechnics, not the explosion of hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend.

Luckily, we’ve gathered some tips and trick to help you navigate the Port of San Diego’s Big Bay Boom, which starts at 9 p.m.

First Up: Getting There

As with most downtown events, parking will be a struggle.

Event organizers say parking along the bay and Shelter Island filled up by 1 p.m. last year, so they recommend forgoing the car in favor of public transportation.

A free shuttle will run from a parking lot next to the Port Administration building at 3165 Pacific Highway to take visitors to the Harbor Police parking lot on Harbor Island Drive. From there, fireworks-goers can walk to the bay for an up-close view. That shuttle service starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. Friday.

If you have your eye on Shelter Island, the Old Towne Trolley shuttle will take people from the corner of Carleton and Rosecrans streets in Point Loma (where there’s just street parking) to the gazebo on Shelter Island. The first passengers will be picked up at 3 p.m., and the last will be taken away at 11 p.m.

Public transportation like the San Diego MTS buses and trolleys, the COASTER and Amtrak trains will also be running their normal routes into downtown.

Where to Watch:

The 4th of July spectacular reaches high in the sky, but a few spots around the bay are prime for taking it all in.

On their website, organizers list their official locations as the Coronado Ferry Landing, North and South Embarcadero, Seaport Village, Harbor Island and Shelter Island.

Homes in Point Loma, Liberty Station, Little Italy and downtown hotels and high-rises should also offer a good glimpse.

You could make it dinner and a show by booking a reservation at one of the many bayside restaurants, though you’ll want to call in soon to make sure they’re not filled.

But no matter where you sit, don't forget to bring a radio along. The fireworks' soundtrack will be broadcast live on WALRUS 105.7 FM beginning at 7 p.m.

If you don’t feel like fighting the crowds, 2014 is the first year the show will be aired live on TV, so starting at 8 p.m., you can snuggle up on your own couch and avoid breaking up your personal Independence Day party.

The Run-Up

Leading up to the bay blowout, special events will dot the downtown area. The Midway Aircraft Museum is opening it up its flight deck at 6:30 p.m. for a family picnic-style viewing, including live entertainment, flight simulators and food.

A free outdoor concert kicks off at Seaport Village at 1 p.m., followed by other all-American activities like face-painting and carousel riding.

The decks of the Berkeley and Star of India – two of the ships that make up the San Diego Maritime Museum – will also open for some fireworks watching.

If you want to view the display from the high seas (of the bay), Hornblower Yachts and Flagship Cruises are both offering star-spangled dinner cruises.

The fireworks will launch from four barges stationed in the north bay, so those setting sail on their own boats should keep a safe 300-yard distance away from where the pyrotechnics are taking off.

The 14th Annual Big Bay Boom is expected to draw in at least 300,000 people from across Southern California.

This year, all proceeds will go to the Armed Services YMCA.

Hundreds of people living near Julian felt a big sense of relief Thursday night they were allowed to return to their homes after a devastating wildfire.

Hours earlier, as Cal Fire crews scrambled to save homes from the fast-moving Banner Fire, all  they could do was watch and wait.

“Look your house and your trees are there, my house, well I don’t know it’s only the other side,” Maria Simes said to her neighbor.

When she was finally able to go closer she was amazed.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Simes said.

She and her husband couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The looked in disbelief as they realized their home had survived a 217-acre fire that destroyed everything around it.

“I just wanted to get over here because they said it’s there but I was like how can it be there, look everything else is gone,” said Simes.

The charred trees and grass around the home showed just how close flames got to their home.
But it’s the vacant and now unrecognizable house, that was still smoldering, that puts it all into perspective.

“You can see. It came close. If you look around,” Simes said.

It was the same story for Carl Swepston whose home stands between two homes that were reduced to rubble.

“That’s a steep bank there and the fire would have come right up there because that house burned right there," Swepston told NBC 7 Thursday

He credits having defensible space around the home for helping his home survive.

“Just by having clearance, having cleared all this out of the way, the weeds and dry brush and everything else is what saved the house,” said Swepston.

No word on the cause of the fire.

The fire is 40 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said, with two homes and 1 outbuilding lost.

Though firefighters have a good handle on the fire, officials have canceled the Fourth of July parade scheduled Friday.

Fire officials say they want to keep the roads clear in case the fire sparks again and they need to evacuate.

A large number of people were spending their Fourth of July in line to a unique kind of farmers market in Boyle Heights. The featured product: medical marijuana.

The lines were outside the door to the 20 to 30 medical marijuana growers inside the Boyle Heights California Heritage Market on Friday. Some people reported waiting up to an hour-and-a-half to get in.

• Read: Fourth of July Parades

Paizely Bradbury, the executive director of the farmers market, said she has been monitoring the line all morning long.

"I've been walking up and down the line. It's insane,” Bradbury said. “You are dealing with the growers themselves and you are going to get pretty much 70 percent off than a dispensary."

A grower, identifying himself only as Keith, said the response to the market has been tremendous so far on the first of a three-day event.

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“So far this is crazy because nobody has seen the likes of this,” he said. “Neither farmers or people buying."

Membership and access to the market is free only to medical marijuana license holders, and organizers said ID’s were being checked before anyone entered.

Organizers said there is a possibility that the farmers market will be a weekly fixture if all goes well with the opening.

Local activists were calling for a federal investigation Friday after a video posted to YouTube showed a CHP officer repeatedly hitting a woman in the face on the side of a Los Angeles freeway.

The video footage, posted by David Diaz, shows the officer try to grab the woman's arm as she appears to resist near the eastbound 10 Freeway.

As he tries to gain control over the woman, he throws her to the ground. While the woman is on her back, the officer holds her down and delivers about a dozen hits to her head and upper body in about 11 seconds, according to the video.

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Activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson said there was no possible justification for what he saw in the video.

“Subduing is one thing if you’re going to make a lawful arrest. There’s no question about that. You have the authority to do that,” Hutchinson said. “But a punch and a beating? I’m sorry, you’ve crossed the line.”

The activists said they believe the woman in the video may have been homeless and mentally ill.

“I represent for the women that are upset they're concerned and now they are fearful,” added activist Lita Herron. “They're actually admitting that now they're afraid to be stopped by highway patrol.”

• Watch: Cell Phone Video Shows CHP Officer Hitting Woman

The activists called for a meeting with the head of the CHP, and activist Pedro Baez said he was shocked because the agency has an admirable record on issues of community relations and racial profiling.

“We saw something that was just repulsive, reprehensible and totally out of character for them,” Baez said.

The agency issued an updated statement on the video Friday morning.

"The California Highway Patrol (CHP) just became aware of the video today and we are investigating the entire incident," according to the statement. "As a matter of policy, every time there is a use of force by our officers, there is a review conducted to determine whether the use of force was appropriate. That will be done in this case, however, since there is an ongoing investigation, it would be premature to comment on this specific video segment. After the investigation is completed it will be reviewed at multiple levels within the Department."