Psst. Ready to water that beautiful lush lawn of yours? The one that's the envy of the entire neighborhood.

If you live in Southern California, you'd better wait until after midnight. Preferably on a cloudy, new-moon night during a power outage when it's so dark even night-vision goggles won't give away your position. Otherwise, you could wind up the star of the latest drought-shaming video posted on YouTube or Twitter.

"Yeah, I put your address out there. The world is watching a lot more, says Tony Corcoran, one of several people who spend their spare time these days canvassing the tony communities of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and elsewhere, looking for people wasting water during the worst California drought in recent memory.

Corcoran alone estimates he's put up on YouTube more than 100 videos of water-wasters, complete with their addresses.

Others tweet out addresses and photos of water scofflaws, using hashtags such as #DroughtShaming. Still others are snapping smartphone photos of them and sending them directly to authorities.

Not everyone is happy about it.

One woman, quickly tiring of Corcoran's lecture on conservation while she watered her plants, turned her hose on him.

In Beverly Hills, where he was showing a reporter and photographer water running down the street in front of a mansion, the angry resident called police. Two patrol cars quickly responded, but the officers took no action.

In Hollywood, Sam Bakman, who manages a condominium complex, said his building was recently shamed wrongly by somebody on Twitter over a broken sprinkler head that was quickly repaired. He showed a reporter the city-issued restrictions on watering and pointed out his sprinkler timers fall well within the guidelines.

"If they thought we were doing something wrong, why not come knock on my door?" he asked.

Corcoran, a restaurant group administrator who kept his New York attitude when he came to laid-back Los Angeles awhile ago, is unrepentant.

"The whole point is to get people to change, not to shame," he said.

With California in the fourth year of a drought with no end in sight, the governor has ordered everyone to use 25 percent less water, and drought shamers say the easiest way to accomplish that is to quit watering your yard. Or at least be careful about it and not let water spill into the street.

"I was a passenger in a car driving by, and first I noticed water down the street. And when we drove up, I saw the broken sprinkler head," said Patricia Perez of Eagle Rock who quickly tweeted out a picture of the mess. She also emailed it to the local water agency.

"When you're trying to do your best personally, and you're trying to conserve water, it's very irritating," she said of one of the reasons behind drought shaming.

Dan Estes, a Los Angeles real estate broker, has gone so far as to build his own free app, DroughtShame, that records the time and place where people see waste.

Unlike some other drought shamers, he doesn't believe in getting in people's faces or outing them to the world. Instead, people who use his app send the information and a photograph to him, and he forwards it to the appropriate water agency.

"I drought shamed the preschool next to my apartment," Estes said. "Timer was off on their sprinklers. Those things were on for five hours, and the sidewalk was a river. I was nonconfrontational, but at the same time, public."

Twenty minutes after he reported it, Estes said, the sprinklers were shut off.

A San Diego man discovered the guitar he had unwittingly jammed on for the better part of 45 years once belonged to the legendary John Lennon, stolen from the Beatles in 1963.

The story of the long-lost guitar began in 1962, when Lennon and George Harrison picked up two, store-ordered Gibson J-160E in Liverpool. Lennon played his on tour for about 15 months, until it went missing after a pre-Christmas performance in London.

In 1969, it landed in the hands of John McCaw, a San Diego building contractor. McCaw told NBC 7 that a friend had unknowingly bought Lennon’s Gibson in a local music shop a couple of years earlier. That friend sold it to McCaw for about $175.

Forty-five years later — after decades of using it to teach his sons and strumming on it during amateur jam sessions — McCaw began to realize what he had.

"[I] went through a lot of different emotions," said McCaw. "The first one was excitement. Then started to be overwhelmed, realizing what we did have, what it meant and could mean to the world.”

The realization dawned on McCaw when he opened a 2012 issue of Guitar Aficionado last year and saw a picture of George Harrison’s guitar between the folds. It matched McCaw’s.

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Wanting to confirm his hope, McCaw and his friends reached out to international experts to authenticate that the Gibson was once Lennon’s. It helped that Lennon had played the guitar roughly, leaving behind marks as he slapped and strummed hard behind the strings.

The scratches and scars led to a positive identification.

"Then it became a whole different piece. Before, it was a guitar. And after it was authenticated, it became a Holy Grail,” said McCaw.

But from that Holy Grail, McCaw demanded no fame or fortune. Instead, he wanted to return it to the world at large.

"I think he's looking down,” said McCaw of Lennon. “I've felt that since Day One. And I think he'd say 'I knew this guitar would come back now me.' And now it has."

The Gibson's immaculate condition adds to the wonder of the find.

McCaw’s friend and performing guitarist Marc Intravaia said McCaw paid great care to the guitar, making sure it was never damaged.

"It ended up in the right person's hands,” said Intravaia. “And I think the world should be grateful to him that they now get to look at a piece of history exactly as it was in '63. It stepped right out of 1963. ‘Here you go. I'm back.'"

A confidential process steered Lennon’s guitar to the Grammy Museum Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. Currently, it is on display at the LBJ Presidential Museum in Texas, a part of the “Beatlemania” festival. It will go back to the Grammy Museum from next month through August.

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McCaw told NBC 7 he is excited Beatles fans now have a place to pilgrimage to see the revered instrument.

"People are really excited about it, and understand what a great story it is. And so we want to keep that going — keep the positive going,” he said.

McCaw kept his amazing discovery under wraps until all the details were finalized. In the meantime, friends like Intravaia reveled in the find. A Beatlemaniac, Intravaia calls playing the guitar a spiritual, transformative experience.

“When we brought it to Carmel Del Mar Elementary and we shared it with the kids and they sang 'Imagine' as I was playing the guitar, we were all …” Intravaia trailed off, wiping tears from his eyes.

Later this year, the guitar will go to a private auction house sale, where private collectors will get a chance to bid on a piece of history – starting in the upper six figures. A portion of those proceeds will go to Spirit Foundation Charities.

When it comes to the Chargers retiring uniform numbers there’s 19, 14, 55 and soon there will be 21.

Bolts legend LaDainian Tomlinson will have his number 21 uniform retired when he’s inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame during the 2015 season. The official ceremony will take place Sunday, November 22 at halftime of the Chargers-Chiefs game on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

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Tomlinson will be the 4th player to have his number retired the Chargers, joining Lance Alworth (19), Dan Fouts (14) and the late Junior Seau (55).

“There’s no question LaDainian is a first ballot Hall of Famer. His contributions off the field to the community of San Diego are as important as what he did on the field. What he did on the field was monumental,” said Fouts, in speaking about Tomlinson.

After 11 fantastic seasons on NFL fields, Tomlinson retired in 2012. When LT retired he was the league’s fith all-time leading rusher (13,684 career yards) and its second most prolific scorer (145 career rushing touchdowns).

Tomlinson was the Chargers first-round pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. During his 9 seasons with the team, LT became one of the most popular and decorated Chargers in history.

LT’s 2006 NFL Most Valuable Player Awards is the highlight more of than 100 team and league awards to his credit.

“Some guys you watch play and say, ‘I wonder if he will wind up in the Hall of Fame?’ LT answered that question a long time ago. He is one of the greatest and most versatile running backs to ever play the game. He helped this organization return to relevancy in the NFL and gave all of us a lot of exciting moments we’ll remember forever,” former Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith said.

A formal press conference for Tomlinson’s number retirement will be held on Thursday at Chargers Park.
 

A main route out of Eastlake and Otay Ranch was closed Thursday morning due to an overnight water main break.

Flooding at Olympic Parkway and Heritage Road caused delays for commuters as police and city crews worked to reroute traffic.

Chula Vista Police were called just before 4 a.m. about water covering three lanes of traffic on westbound Olympic Parkway, west of Otay Ranch High School.

Otay Water District officials say a break in the recycled water line caused the flooding so no homes or businesses were impacted by the break.

As of 6:30 a.m., the far right lane was caving in so police had just that lane blocked off from traffic.

Water crews hope to have the break fix by Thursday afternoon.
 

After an explosion shook a Poway business on Wednesday afternoon, many people took to social media to share what they heard or saw.

Ray Butcher said he was working nearby when suddenly he heard a loud boom and a chunk of debris fell through his office building (see above photo).

"When I stood up, there was a hole in one of our ceiling tiles, exposing daylight," Butcher wrote on Instagram. "It destroyed the cubicle it landed in."

Here are several more accounts from others of the explosion:

The brother of a six-month pregnant woman who was stabbed by the father of the baby in a fight over sexually explicit photos said he feared she or the baby were going to die.

"I thought I was going to lose my sister or her baby, probably," said David Rodriguez Salas, the brother of Natalie Rodriguez about the Monday confrontation in San Bernardino.

Natalie Rodriguez is recovering at a hospital after being stabbed allegedly by her ex boyfriend. The baby is fine.

It all began Monday when Natalie's ex, Daniel Vergara Flores, started posting sexually explicit pictures of her on social media, Rodriguez Salas said.

Natalie went to Vergara Flores' home demanding he take down the photos and stop making death threats against her.

When Natalie Rodriguez didn't come home, her brother drove over there.

"He was beating her up and she was already bleeding," David Rodriguez Salas said.

Vergara Flores allegedly stabbed Natalie Rodriguez in the armpit, collapsing her lung.

"I started hitting him," her brother said. "As soon as I swing at him he ducked down and he stabbed me."

David said that at one point he was able to wrestle the knife away and stab the suspect. But the suspect's sister, Stephanie Flores, said she saw what happened and claims her brother is innocent.

"They blamed it on him because she's pregnant," said Flores.

Flores said her brother was only protecting himself after being attacked by Natalie's family.

"From what we know my brother did not stab her," Stephanie Flores said.

Stephanie said she believes Natalie's brother accidentally stabbed Natalie during the confrontation.

"He stabbed my sister once and me twice," David said. "I couldn't do that. That's crazy."

After Daniel ran home, Stephanie said Natalie's family threw rocks into the windows before deputies arrived.

"My mom and my sister were angry," David Rodriguez Salas said. "How he can do that? That's his kid."

Marriott Hotels will soon provide access to streaming Netflix on hotel room TVs.

The company announced this week that its hotel room guests will be able to log in to their Netflix accounts or sign up on room TVs.

It’s the first hotel chain to offer the streaming service to guests and could signal a shift of the hospitality’s industry into the digital age.

“Because consumers are choosing to take their streaming content with them when they travel, Marriott Hotels is making the industry’s first rollout of Netflix a priority,” Matthew Carroll, vice president of brand management, said in a news release.

Netflix is available at six Marriott locations in New York; San Jose; Princeton, New Jersey; Newport, Rhode Island; Dallas; and Bethesda, Maryland.

The company plans to expand the Netflix feature this summer to hotels in Anaheim, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Atlanta.

One-hundred of its properties will offer Netflix by the end of the year and nearly all of the hotels will have the feature by the end of 2016, the company stated in the news release.

A woman was forced to crawl up airplane stairs, down the aisle and to her seat when American Airlines refused to provide her with a ramp, according to recently filed lawsuit.

On June 13, 2013, Theresa Purcell traveled to the San Diego International Airport for her flight to Hawaii, via Los Angeles. She arrived in a wheelchair because she suffers Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder that affects motor and sensory nerves, including weakness in the lower legs and feet.

At the gate, Purcell’s complaint alleges she arrived on time and asked the gate agent to request a ramp to get her onto the airplane.

However, after the porter wheeled her out to the steps of the plane, Purcell was told it was too late.

“It was too late for them to get the ramp over to the airplane so she could get on it and she basically had to figure it out herself," Purcell’s attorney Christy Ho told NBC 7 Wednesday.

Ho said her client got out of her wheelchair and crawled on her knees on the tarmac and up the stairs.

Purcell then had to crawl all the way to her seat, while her sister watched, Ho said.

"She watched her family member fall on the ground and up the stairs,” the attorney said. “Nobody should have to do that. Nobody should have to go through that."

The attorney said her client was “utterly humiliated” but held it together because she didn’t want to cry in front of the other passengers.

Almost two years later, Purcell has anxiety when she has to fly and fears she'll be instructed to do that again.

The lawsuit says the airline violated the Air Carrier Access Act and should compensate Purcell for her physical and emotional injuries. The suit seeks damages of more than $75,000.

Ho gave NBC 7 with a letter of apology, which she says was sent from American Airlines. It asks Purcell and Ho to accept their apologies for the difficulties.

"We regret that a ramp was not requested so Ms. Purcell would be able to board the aircraft without going up stairs, assistance should have been provided shortly thereafter. Based on what you've shared, it appears our employees didn't provide the attentive, courteous and professional service we expect as a company," the letter reads.

An additional letter, dated May 28, 2015, says American Airlines will not be issuing any compensation for Purcell's injury claim.

In a statement sent to NBC 7 Thursday, American Airlines spokesperson Michelle Mohr said,

"American is committed to providing a safe, pleasant travel experience for all of our customers and complying with all Department of Transportation regulations. Our employees are trained to assist customers with disabilities and we encourage our customers to let us know what they need to help make their travels smoother by speaking with us at reservations, in the airport or during their flight. We take these matters very seriously and began investigating Ms. Purcell’s claims regarding her June 2013 flight when they were first brought to our attention this spring. We will evaluate the lawsuit as soon as we receive it."

A judge who donated money to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert several years ago will remain on the former speaker's hush-money case.

U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said earlier this week that while he felt he could be impartial, he would recuse himself from presiding over Dennis Hastert's case unless prosecutors and Hastert's lawyers file a waiver. All parties agreed Thursday to allow Durkin to remain on the case.

"I have no doubt I can be impartial in this matter," Judge Thomas M. Durkin said Tuesday after Hastert entered not guilty pleas to federal charges he evaded banking laws and lied to the FBI.

The case was randomly assigned to Durkin, he said, adding that it would be randomly given to another judge if attorneys asked him to step aside.

Federal Election Commission records showed Durkin donated $500 to the "Hastert for Congress" campaign in 2002 and $1,000 in 2004.

Durkin was an attorney at the Mayer Brown law firm in Chicago at the time of the contributions. Hastert's son, Ethan Hastert, was an associate attorney at the firm at the same time. Durkin stressed he and the younger Hastert were not friends but did work on a few cases together.

"As far as I can recall I never met the defendant," Durkin said, adding that his contribution was made as a private citizen through a partner at the law firm.

President Barack Obama appointed Durkin a federal judge in 2012.

Durkin's brother, Jim Durkin, is Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives representing the state's 82nd District. The judge said his brother and Hastert are not personal friends.

Hastert, a Republican, is accused of skirting banking laws while withdrawing $952,000 that investigators allege he gave to someone accusing him of wrongdoing. The indictment did not identify the recipient of the money or clarify the wrongdoing, but an NBC News source said the funds were handed over to conceal a sexual relationship Hastert had with a man while the man was a student at Yorkville High School, where Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach.

Whole Foods says it will name its new chain of smaller stores with lower prices after its "365 Everyday Value" house brand.

Co-CEO Walter Robb tells The Associated Press that the chain will be named "365 by Whole Foods Market," a nod to the brand already sold by the grocery chain.

He said that while 365 products will anchor the stores, the chain will also have other items, including national brands.

Since announcing plans for the chain in May, recent trademark filings by Whole Foods Markets Inc. had prompted a guessing game that the stores might bear names like Clever Egg, DailyShop, Greenlife, Small Batch or Swiftgoods.

"Those were all decoys," Robb said in an interview, before quickly adding that his claim could also be a decoy to divert people about other plans.

The new chain, which is slated to begin opening next year, comes as Whole Foods seeks to differentiate itself amid intensifying competition. The company, which has more than 400 Whole Foods stores, has seen its sales growth slow as organic and natural products have become more widely available at mainstream supermarket chains and big-box retailers.

The new chain may also be inspired by the success of companies such as Trader Joe's and Sprouts, which also focus on value and store-brand products, said Jon Springer, retail editor for the trade publication Supermarket News.

"They've identified millennial shoppers, younger shoppers who are very particular about what they eat, but also tough about what they can spend on food," he said.

Executives in the supermarket and retail industry are also trying to adapt to the changing ways people are shopping. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for instance, has been opening "Neighborhood Market" stores that are smaller than its supercenters aimed at shoppers who want to get in and out quickly.

A similar philosophy seems to be behind the plan by Whole Foods. In its initial announcement, Whole Foods had said that the new chain would be "geared toward millennials." But Robb said that while 365 is inspired by younger generations, it's intended to appeal to anyone who wants a quick, convenient way to shop.

Jeff Turnas, a Whole Foods veteran who was named president of the 365 chain, said he envisions people stopping in at 365 stores during the week when they want to get in and out of stores, with the regular Whole Foods stores being destinations for bigger shopping trips.

Turnas, who previously headed the U.K. business for Whole Foods, also noted that a small Whole Foods location in London has an open-kitchen feel in its prepared food section. Turnas said something similar might pop up in the 365 stores as well.

Whole Foods says it plans to open between five and 10 of the 365 stores around the country next year, and that it sees potential for the chain to eventually have as big a footprint as its namesake chain. The company, based in Austin, Texas, has provided few other concrete details about its plans for the chain.

In an earnings conference call in May, co-CEO John Mackey had described it as a "streamlined, hip, cool technology oriented store, unlike any store anybody has ever seen before."

When asked this week what 365 stores will look like, Robb remained similarly vague. He asked that people close their eyes and "stay with me on the words and flow" of his description. He then proceeded to ask people to envision a place "that's fresh, that's clean" with a smaller, more neighborhood feel, a "streamlined" selection and "technology woven in," although he declined to say what type of technology that might entail.

But despite the bigger focus on value, Robb stressed the products in the 365 stores will have the same quality standards as "the mothership."

"It's not going to be a dumbed-down thing," he said.
 

Underage drinking rates are dropping steadily, a new study reveals.

The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also showed a decline in underage binge drinking.

While alcohol remains more widely used than tobacco or illicit drugs, the report indicates that the level of underage drinking of those aged 12 to 20 dropped from 28.2 percent in 2002 to 22.7 percent in 2013. Binge drinking, defined as having five or more drinks within a couple of hours of each other, has also declined from 19.3 percent in 2002 to 14.2 percent in 2013.

Both locally and nationally, community coalitions, law enforcement, and organizations like SAMHSA have focused on preventing underage drinking through media campaigns and even apps. SAMHSA’s “Talk. They Hear You” mobile app, for example, prepares parents for conversations with children about the risks involved with alcohol consumption.

“When parents communicate clear expectations and they are supported by community efforts to prevent underage drinking, we can make a difference,” said Frances M. Harding, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, in a press release. 

A woman was hospitalized after a box truck packed with frozen fish smashed into the back of her car Thursday along Interstate 5 near La Jolla.

The collision happened around 1:30 a.m. near the La Jolla Village Drive exit on I-5.

California Highway Patrol officers were first alerted to a stalled sedan on the highway.

Seconds later, official say a truck smashed into the back of the car and flipped over, spilling frozen fish all over the highway.

CHP blocked off all lanes for a time to clean up approximately 4,000 pounds of fish.

The truck driver walked away from the crash.

Firefighters had to cut open the sedan to pull out the woman who was rushed to a nearby hospital.

CHP said the woman was conscious and aware but they didn't know details on how badly she was hurt.
 

San Diego Police are searching for a homicide suspect after a young man was gunned down in the middle of the street in Lincoln Park.

A 24-year-old man, identified now by police as San Diego resident Clarence Edward Carllel, was shot to death Monday right at 47th Street and Logan Avenue after an altercation with two men driving by in a car, according to investigators.

At around 10:45 p.m., witnesses say two men were leaving a taco shop across the street when a driver of a red four-door sedan, described as either a Nissan or Honda, drove up to the two men.

The driver yelled something to the two men then several shots were fired from the car, police said.

One of the men was hit multiple times in his torso area. The other wasn't hurt at all.

Emergency crews treated Carllel at the scene before he was pronounced dead.

Still no arrests have been made. The suspects were last seen driving eastbound on Logan Avenue.

Employees at the El Paisa restaurant said the victim had just walked out of the taco shop before the shooting.

They said the victim told one of their workers that he was going to start a new job Tuesday.

Anyone with information related to this incident can call the San Diego Police Department’s Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
 

SWAT officials were called to Escondido Wednesday night to assist the arrests two people accused of shooting and killing a 21-year-old man on the street.

Officials surrounded the 1000 block of Ivy Lane around 9:50 p.m.

The Escondido Police Department said an investigation by its Crimes of Violence and Gang Units had led officials to Juan Maldonado, 18, and Jessica Espinoza-Contreras, 19, both wanted in connection with the deadly shooting of Steven LaRussa.

Both suspects were taken into custody and booked into the Vista Detention Facility on a murder charge.
LaRussa, of Fallbrook, was shot multiple times Tuesday on Gamble Street near El Norte Parkway. He was taken to a local hospital but died from injuries sustained in the shooting.

Police said the investigation indicated the shooting was not a random act of violence.

The location of the incident was a half block west of Farr Elementary School and a half block east of Lincoln Elementary School. Farr Elementary was briefly on lockdown.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this deadly shooting should contact Escondido Police Det. John O’Donnell at (760) 839-4756 or Det. Nick Rodelo at (760) 839-4422.
 

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted in an interview with The Guardian that he fears financial ruin in the $100 million whistleblower case being brought against him by former U.S. Postal teammate Floyd Landis. The 43-year-old Texas native even went so far as to compare himself to a character very familiar to fans of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

“I’m that character in Harry Potter they can’t talk about,” he said. “Voldemort? It’s as if you can’t mention him. I’m the one everybody wants to pretend never lived. But that will not be the case forever because it can’t be the case forever. That won’t work, people aren’t stupid. I mean, I tried to make it right with every one of those people… I can only do so much.”

In Rowling’s novels, main villain Lord Voldemort is so infamous that he is almost always referred to with epithets, including “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” Armstrong asserted that his treatment in recent years mirrored that of Harry Potter’s archenemy.

In 2012, Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life for using performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong maintained his innocence until he confessed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013.

Before the allegations surfaced, Armstrong was hailed for his perseverance after battling testicular cancer. In 1997, he founded the Livestrong Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps those afflicted with cancer. The foundation is perhaps best known for its trademark yellow bracelets, which supporters wear to raise awareness about cancer research.

A former Navy SEAL who crashed his dirt bike along a remote stretch of the Columbia River gorge in Oregon survived, in part, thanks to his iPhone charger.

Matt L’Hommedieu, 46, used the cord of his iPhone to make a splint for his fractured leg after flying 40 feet from his bike down into a ravine, NBC affiliate KGW reported. L’Hommedieu was in the wilderness area searching for the parachute of D.B Cooper, the infamous hijacker of an airliner in 1971. Cooper escaped the plane mid-air with $200,000 and has never been found.

L’Hommedieu suffered several broken bones, but managed to put his SEAL training to use. Along with the iPhone charger cord, he fashioned a splint with shoelaces and sticks. "Honestly, at that point I was in survival mode," he told KGW.

After 24 hours alone and immobilized, a couple on a hike spotted L’Hommedieu’s dirt bike which led them to the injured man. Rescuers eventually reached L’Hommedieu and airlifted him to a hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Fashion retailer Nordstrom Inc. has signed an agreement to anchor a proposed Carlsbad retail center being developed near Interstate 5 by Caruso Affiliated of Los Angeles.

Caruso officials said Nordstrom plans a full-line, two-level store spanning approximately 123,000 square feet. The store would be part of an open-air, 585,000-square-foot retail center included in a larger plan to develop former agricultural land adjacent to the Agua Hedionda Lagoon off Cannon Road.

Caruso Affiliated is part of a group, which it is also funding, known as Preserving Carlsbad Open Space the Right Way. The group recently began collecting signatures to place before Carlsbad voters its “Agua Hedionda 85/15 Plan.”

The plans calls for developing 85 percent – about 176 acres – of a 203-acre, lagoon-adjacent property as an open-space preserve with trails, picnic areas and lagoon viewing spots. Proponents said the remaining 15 percent, about 26 acres, would be used for a pedestrian-friendly retail center and promenade with recreation and entertainment elements.

Caruso Affliated has an agreement to buy the land from SDG&E if the developer’s project is approved. Caruso is in talks with other merchants, restaurants and movie theater operators to locate at the Carlsbad center.

Seattle-based Nordstrom currently operates full-line department stores in Mission Valley, University Towne Center, Escondido and downtown San Diego, along with four local locations of its Nordstrom Rack off-price store.

The retailer previously announced plans to expand and relocate its current full-line store at UTC, set for a 2017 debut, and also open a new Nordstrom Rack store in La Jolla in 2016.

“We’re grateful for the more than 30 years of support we’ve received from our customers in San Diego County and we’re thrilled at the opportunity to better serve many of those customers with a store closer to their home,” said Nordstrom President Jamie Nordstrom, in a statement from Caruso on the Carlsbad project.

Police have arrested a 15-year-old San Diego student linked to an online group allegedly responsible for calling in “swatting” hoaxes across five states nationwide.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed a 10th grader was taken into custody Wednesday for his alleged role in three separate bomb threats made against Point Loma High School on April 5 and April 6. The campus is located at 2335 Chatsworth Blvd., about five-and-a-half miles from downtown San Diego.

SDPD Lt. James Keck said the teen is a student at the high school.

Investigators linked the young suspect to an online gaming group accused of making bomb threats or calling in “swatting” incidents in Georgia, Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas and Illinois, and also two cities in Ontario, Canada.

Swatting is a prank that involves calling law enforcement for a false emergency. It has become a prevalent hoax in the gaming community in recent years.

The suspect was booked into Juvenile Hall in San Diego, police said.

The SDPD confirmed additional suspects from the online gaming group have been arrested in other states and more arrests may be forthcoming. San Diego police are working with other law enforcement agencies in the impacted cities on the ongoing investigation.

Lt. Keck said he could not share specific details about the gaming group tied to this case but did tell NBC 7 the group is “fluid in size and varies on who could be playing at any given time.”

“Although the players had specific nicknames of handles, there is not a specific group name,” he explained.

Lt. Keck said the motive for the threats is unknown at this time.

The teenager faces three counts of falsely reporting an emergency, Lt. Keck said.

“As the investigation continues, more charges could be added for other incidents as well as conspiracy charges for incidents in other jurisdictions,” he added.

The SDPD said these types of threats are taken very seriously and often times result in the costly deployment of emergency response resources as a precaution to ensure public safety.

When threats like this are determined by investigators to be false, the SDPD said detectives conduct thorough investigations aimed at the arrest and prosecution of all suspects involved.

In March 2011, a swatting prankster called police in San Diego’s Eastlake community claiming to be a man who just killed his wife and threatening suicide. Police realized the murder call was all a big hoax after the alleged victim walked up to an officer at the scene and asked him what was happening.

The law enforcement response to this incident was costly: homes in the area were evacuated and a nearby elementary school was put on lockdown. The man originally identified as the person making the call knew nothing about the incident either. In that case, police believed the caller may have used a phone app that made it appear as if the fake 911 call came from the phone.
 

A woman who works a department store at Fashion Valley Mall was reportedly attacked by a man in the area Thursday, possibly a transient, police said.

According to the San Diego Police Department, the woman’s husband reported the assault just after 9 a.m. near the 7000 block of Friars Road.

The husband told police his wife works at Bloomingdale’s at the mall and she was attacked by an unknown man who may have been intoxicated. After the encounter, the man ran towards the nearby riverbed area – a well-known spot for homeless encampments.

Police investigated the incident as attempted robbery, but said the suspect didn’t steal anything from the victim. A description of the man was not immediately available.
 

Police have made an arrest in a homicide case involving a man who was found shot to death inside the bedroom of a La Mesa home last month, officials announced Thursday.

The La Mesa Police Department (LMPD) said Samuel Godinez, 36, of Lemon Grove, was arrested on May 27 in connection with the shooting death of Christopher Gillette, 33.

After weeks of investigating, Godinez was taken into custody by a Special Response Team in the 1700 block of Linda Vista Drive in San Marcos, police said. He was booked into San Diego Central Jail. His bail has been set at $2 million and he’s scheduled to appear in court on June 30.

On May 16, just before 5:30 a.m., La Mesa police received a 911 call reporting a man had been shot inside a home in the 8200 block of El Paso Street.

When officers arrived, they found Gillette suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The LMPD said detectives worked over the next few weeks following up on leads from the homicide. Lt. Angela Desarro said investigators looked through surveillance footage and spoke with neighbors and witnesses. Those leads ultimately led police to Godinez.

Though a motive for the murder was not revealed by police, Lt. Desarro did say the men were acquaintances. In the early morning hours of the day of the shooting, the men got into some sort of verbal dispute and Godinez allegedly fired a gun at Gillette.

Lt. Desarro said she did not know the root of the deadly argument.

According to investigators, Gillette was originally from Lakeside, but was staying periodically at the home in La Mesa.

Lt. Desarro said there were several people inside the home at the time of the shooting. The house is located directly across the street from Murray Manor Elementary School.

On the day of the shooting, neighboring residents told NBC 7 an unknown man had been renting the home for about a year. One neighbor said she began noticing odd activity at the house a few weeks prior to the shooting, but up to then, there had been no problems at the residence.

Lt. Desarro told NBC 7 Godinez has a criminal history, though she did not go into specific details. She said Godinez acted alone in the shooting and said police have a strong case against him.