Residents in Linda Vista say someone slashed dozens of their car tires in the neighborhood.

The cars damaged were all parked on the streets surrounding Montgomery Middle School. An NBC 7 crew counted seven cars with flat tires just on Eastman Street.

But one resident believes there were many more.

“It was all one night,” said neighbor Bennie Ksiazek. “It was like 50 cars in one night.”

Ksiazek said someone slashed the tires a few nights ago. The only visible evidence on his pickup truck is a small cut in the side.

While he has been a victim of a tire slashing before, fortunately for Ksiazek this time, he had parked his car in another spot the night all the tire slashings occurred.

“It’s the kind of thing that you don’t think it will happen to you,” he said. “But you never know.”

Now residents are wondering who’s to blame and why it happened.

A spokesman for the San Diego Police Department said officers have not received reports of the vandalism, so they are not currently investigating.

Prosecutors today said they will decide by July 10th whether or not to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing the McStay family in Fallbrook.

Charles “Chase” Merritt is charged with four counts of murder, with a special circumstances enhancement for multiple murders, that makes him eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole, if convicted.

At a hearing today in San Bernardino, where the case is being heard, Judge Michael Smith also set an August 10th trial date for the man accused of brutally murdering his former business partner, Joseph McStay, McStay’s wife Summer, and the couple’s two young sons. Evidence at Merritt’s June 15th preliminary indicates that Merritt beat the victims to death with a small sledge hammer.

Merritt’s attorney, Jimmy Mettias, insists that the evidence his client is weak and circumstantial, and expressed confidence that a jury will find not convict his client.

Talking with reporters after today’s hearing, Mettias said he will probably ask Judge Smith to delay the trial for at least several months, because there’s so much evidence in the case, and because investigators for the defense are still gathering information.

Also at today’s hearing, Judge Smith indicated he will release information from search warrants lodged with the court by law enforcement during its lengthy investigation of the McStay murders.

Those warrants are expected to contain details about the investigation that were not revealed during the preliminary hearing.

They are expected to be made public on July 1st.

But Judge Smith said he will not release two of the approximately 35 search warrants, because those two warrants contain information prosecutors say should remain secret. The judge also agreed to redact three sentences from the warrants at the request of the defense, which argued that those unknown details are “inaccurate and highly prejudicial… and would interfere with (Merritt’s) ability to get a fair trial.”

The judge agreed with the defense argument, and said the redactions are necessary for “the protection of the defendant’s rights.”

Media attorney Kelly Aviles, who represents NBC 7 and other media outlets, disagreed with that ruling.

Aviles argued that all substantial information in those warrants should be public. Media outlets are considering a legal challenge to Judge Smith’s ruling. 

San Diego Gas and Electric will have enough resources to meet the power demand this summer, officials said at a conference Tuesday.

The company said it will use renewable energy to meet the increased demand, but still asks customers to conserve power in certain circumstances.

“Energy efficiency helps our customers save money throughout the year, and helps us as a region, continue to build a sustainable future,” said Victor Vala Plana, the vice president of customer services. 

During the summer, residents turn on their air conditioning more often, meaning a higher energy demand. With a lack of water to create hydropower as an energy source, there will likely be higher demand for energy.

Customers, however, may be called to conserve in the event of an unexpected power emergency, such as much hotter than expected weather or the unplanned loss of a power plant or transmission line.

SDG&E will send customers a "Flex Alert" on their phones, emails, and on TV, letting them know when it's time to conserve power.

Another SDG&E tool tracks energy use, and notifies customers when usage is exceeded.

Customers can also use a fan instead of an air conditioner, which can save 90 percent on cooling costs.

Two nurses and a nurses aide have been arrested for allegedly dragging a disabled, bleeding patient across the hallway at a Queens nursing home, and neglecting to treat that patient for 20 minutes as he lay on the floor with an open head wound, authorities said Wednesday. 

Surveillance cameras captured the alleged abuse at Peninsula Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Far Rockaway in October. The company that operates the nursing home said it reviews surveillance tapes on a daily basis, and contacted the attorney general's office when officials saw the abuse on tape. 

According to prosecutors, the 51-year-old nursing home resident seen in the Oct. 23 video, who suffered from multiple debilitating conditions including altered mental status, fell in front of Esohe Agbonkpolor, a nurse at the rehab center, while in a hallway and Agbonkpolor did nothing to help.

Court papers allege the resident was left lying on his back on the floor for 12 minutes, at which time a certified nurse aide at the facility, Emmanuael Ufot, grabbed the injured man by his arm and dragged him into his room.

About 25 minutes later, the resident, wearing a backless gown that was pulled up over his naked body, emerged from his room, crawling along the floor on his back, bleeding profusely from a wound to the back of his head and another serious wound on his jaw, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege in court papers that, for the following 20 minutes, Agbonkpolor and another nurse at the facility, Funmilola Taiwo, largely ignored the resident and never appropriately treated the resident’s wounds, though they were working just a few feet away.

As they allegedly neglected the man, Ufot, in another attempt to get the resident back into his room, allegedly grabbed him by his hospital gown that was by then twisted around his neck, dragged him along the floor and dropped him in front of his room.

Taiwo, 34, Agbonkpolor, 39, and Ufot, 36, all face charges of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, a felony, and willful violation of health laws, a misdemeanor. The three defendants were either fired from their jobs at Peninsula or resigned during the course of the investigation.

They were arrested Wednesday. Information on attorneys for them wasn't immediately available.

In a statement, nursing home administrator Elliot Norman said it has "zero tolerance toward any type of misconduct, abusive or negligent behavior by staff toward patients." 

He noted that Cardiff Bay Center LLC took over the nursing home in February 2013 when it was bankrupt and devastated by Sandy, and immediately installed a video surveillance system and established a daily review protocol. 

The nursing home is cooperating with the attorney general's office and "will continue to maintain absolute vigilance including the extensive use of our video surveillance system to ensure patient safety and the high standard of care we demand our employees deliver to our resident," Norman said. 

“My office will not tolerate nurses who callously fail to treat or endanger injured patients under their care,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “Caregivers must know that we will vigorously prosecute behavior that endangers our most vulnerable citizens. New Yorkers in nursing facilities deserve quality care and their loved ones deserve to know their caregivers act like the professionals they are."

Two young girls had to be airlifted from a Cedar Creek Falls trail Wednesday after heat exhaustion, Cal Fire officials said.

The nine-year-old girls were on a YMCA hike when they were overcome by heat, Cal Fire said. The temperature in the Cedar Creek Falls area averaged about 90 degrees Wednesday.

The girls were taken by the Sheriff’s Department helicopter to a nearby Cal Fire station in Ramona.

They were treated there and did not need to be taken to a hospital.

If three is a lucky number, nine parents in North Texas just hit the jackpot. That's because all three sets gave birth to triplets within three days at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano.

"To have three sets over three days is sort of unheard of for any hospital,” Dr. Randall Burt said.

Gretchen Whitehead has been all smiles since she and her husband Andrew brought home Owen, Nicholas and Juliette. They remember the moment they learned they were having triplets.

"Knuckles were bright white and we were like, 'what's happening, what does that mean?'” Whitehead recalled.

The day after their babies were born, Holly and Jason Bennett gave birth to triplets, too.

The next day Jessica and Brad nelson had three more.

"Pretty strange, pretty odd, this whole deal has been pretty odd,” Brad said. “It was definitely shock, it was overwhelming,” Jessica said.

"I was surprised that everybody went to deliver at the same time, but I had heard that there were other multiples on the same floor,” Holly said.

Dr. Garrett Garner delivered six of the nine babies. He says one in 8,000 spontaneous pregnancies are triplets.

"Three sets at the same time in one week is crazy. Very abnormal,” Dr. Garner said.

But Texas Health Plano may see more multiples than normal because of its IVF treatment program and its advanced, level-three neonatal intensive care unit. The couples say fertility treatments helped them get pregnant.

All three sets of triplets born are doing well.

The Bennett babies will go home within a week. The Nelsons will be there soon, too. Three sets of parents on cloud nine with their new families, even if it isn't the way they always pictured.
 

Firefighters in Southern California are battling a three-alarm brush fire in the Newhall area Wednesday afternoon, prompting about 500 homes and about 1,000 people to be evacuated.

The so-called Calgrove fire broke out along the northbound 5 Freeway at 1:15 p.m., in the Stevenson Ranch area, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. As of 6 p.m. the fire had scorched 200 acres and was just 20 percent contained, according to LA County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp.

About 450 firefighters responded to the blaze by 5 p.m., joined by four air tainkers and seven helicopters. Two hand crews and a flight team from CAL FIRE are also headed north to assist with the effort, according to the agency's San Diego-area spokesman Kendal Bortisser.

Around 2 p.m., evacuations were ordered for a nearby mobile home park at 23500 The Old Road in Newhall.

The evacuated streets include:

• La Salle Canyon Drive
• Wildwood Canyon Road
• Champagne Lane
• Green Crest Drive
• Clearbank Lane
• Oakbridge Lane
• Davey Avenue
• Elliot Lane
• The Santa Clarita Senior Center on Market Street

A center for evacuations has been set up at West Ranch High School. Animals were taken to a private ranch after evacuation to Hart Park.

One structure was damaged, but it appeared to be just a garage, according to Tripp, the LACFD deputy chief.

"I would not say the worst is over yet," Tripp said.

The Old Road was closed to non-emergency traffic just before 2 p.m. The Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park six miles away has not yet been affected other than by smoke.

CHP issued an alert to motorists traveling to the Santa Clarita area. Several lanes on the 5 Freeway just north of the interchange to State Route 14 remained blocked as of 4:30 p.m.

California has already had 2,486 wildfires since the beginning of the year, up from 1,654 the state has averaged over the last five years, according to Cal Fire. Eighty-six hundred acres have burned.

Willian Avila, Robert Kovacik and Patrick Healy contributed to this report.

Two months after a roaring blaze scorched more than 1,000 acres around David Mejia’s house east of Los Angeles in Riverside County, the retired businessman keeps his important papers at the ready and a watchful eye for another wildfire.

"It’s always in the back of your mind," he said.

"Especially since we’re in a drought," he said. "It’s supposed to get hot and stay hot. We didn’t have much of a winter."

California is in the fourth year of a drought — a bone-dry spell that has brought unprecedented water restrictions -- and blazes like the one that threatened Mejia's house are becoming more frequent. Wildfire season traditionally runs from May through September, but with vegetation so parched the season now stretches through the year in places, straining budgets and leaving some people in fire-prone areas increasingly anxious.

"This drought is definitely taking its toll on the state," said Lynne Tolmachoff, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection or Cal Fire. "We need all the help we can get."

Mejia admits he was unprepared when an unattended cooking fire sparked flames around the Prado Dam over the Santa Ana River on April 18 — even though a wildfire swept through the same area about 13 years earlier. He packed papers and photographs into his SUV when one of his brothers insisted he evacuate.

"You just forget about it," he said of the earlier fire.

Last month, a dozen fire chiefs used a scarred landscape east of Sacramento as their backdrop as they warned that this year’s fire conditions were the worst on record. California has already had 2,486 wildfires since the beginning of the year, up from 1,654 the state has averaged over the last five years, according to Cal Fire. Eighty-six hundred acres have burned.

The chiefs assembled in Pollock Pines where in October the King Fire raced through more than 97,000 acres and burned Sally and Garry Dykstra's house to the ground on their 51st wedding anniversary. With only 10 minutes to evacuate, they grabbed a suitcase packed for a cruise they were about to take, Garry Dykstra's medicine and a couple of guns, Sally Dykstra said.

"They were yelling at us to get out so we couldn't grab anything else," Dykstra, a 72-year-old retired hair dresser, said.

Left behind were their passports, expensive roller skates, costumes and trophies from years of competing in dance roller skating and Garry Dykstra's 50-year-old train collection. They went on their cruise but without passports had to remain aboard the ship when it docked.

The Dykstras were always aware of the possibility of a fire. One had burned nearby while they were building their house 20 years ago, forcing evacuations and leaving ashes everywhere.

"I had a box near the door that looked just real cute and had baby pictures," Sally Dykstra said. "We didn't grab them. We didn't have time."

After months in an RV parked in a friend’s driveway, the Dykstras have moved into a new house on their property. But since the fire, Sally Dykstra has had a stroke, and Garry Dykstra, a former sheriff's deputy, was hospitalized with pneumonia. They found their cat, "Precious," missing after the fire, but have had to find her a new home. They plan to move away in a year or two, closer to a hospital and doctors.

Sally Dykstra said she was not worried about another fire because the vegetation around their house is gone. Their immediate problem is the 75 to 100 burnt trees on their property. Their neighbors were able to sell their trees for lumber, but now there is a glut and it will cost the Dykstra’s $90,000 to have them removed — most of which insurance will not cover.

"That has me very nervous," she said.

Lorraine Barber, an accountant for the County of El Dorado’s treasurer and Tax Collector’s Office, had only smoke and ash to clean up after the King Fire, which authorities say was the result of arson. Her photos and documents are already on an external hard drive.

But she said in an email: “It does change your view of your surroundings. Our property was overgrown with brush and low lying pine tree branches. We are busy clearing all low growing brush and removing all bushy dry plants near the house.”

One sign that things have returned to normal, she said: The neighborhood bear returned for the first time in a year with her cub.

The American Red Cross and Cal Fire recommend ways to prepare for wildfires, from removing brush and weeds to create buffers around houses to making buildings more durable to having an evacuation plan and practicing it.

Merritt Schreiber, the state coordinator of the California Psychological Association’s Disaster Response Network, said whether residents were evacuated, how much notice they received and whether they or their families were in danger or were injured all can contribute to their recovery from a crisis. Children may be particularly affected, he said.

If residents are not prepared for a disaster, they may need to make snap judgments about what to take or to leave before they are ready, Deborah Hopper, the acting chairwoman of the Disaster Response Committee of the San Diego Psychological Association, said in a statement. They may risk their lives by staying too long.

Her suggestions: Plan for a disaster, including preparing a to-go bag and getting supplies to remain at home if necessary, learn how to become more resilient, let others help after a crisis and seek additional professional after a month or two later if feelings of distress continue.

“For someone to be able to assess and let you know what you could do to help yourself,” she said.

Normal reactions to a disaster — flashbacks, trouble concentrating or making decisions, strained personal reactions, trouble eating or sleeping or physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea or chest pain — typically subside within a few months, according to the American Psychological Association.

But people who lose everything or who are grieving after a death can be affected for a long time, Hopper said.

Wildfires have long threatened lives and property in California. Since 1991, California has experienced seven of the country’s 10 most costly fires according to a ranking from the Insurance Information Institute. The most catastrophic was a brushfire that swept through the Oakland Hills in 1991 and killed 25 people. At the time, damage was estimated $1.7 billion.

But the drought has brought new dangers. Dry conditions have resulted in more than 270 new wildfires last week alone. California had budgeted $209 million to fight wildfires for the fiscal year beginning July 1; through last week the state had spent $241.5 million, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Finance. For the coming fiscal year, the state has increased the firefighting budget to $392 million.

In September, a fire devastated the small town of Weed, California, along Interstate 5 about 50 miles south of the Oregon state line. The Boles Fire forced more than half the people who live there to evacuate and destroyed or damaged about 150 buildings, including the Holy Family Catholic Church and Grace Community Evangelical Presbyterian Church. A month later, police arrested a man suspected of starting the blaze.

Dee Houck, a 42-year-old mother of four whose husband works at the College of the Siskiyous, the community college in Weed, watched the fire race up a hill and burn a neighbor’s house.

“I was scared to death,” she said. “We had minutes to evacuate our six pets, our children and anything we could grab.”

She and her family stayed with friends for a night and were able to return the next day. Since the fire, they have bought renter’s insurance, leave their pet kennels clipped together in a spot easily reached and have assembled a fire box with important items.

Weed is a historic logging city at the base of Mount Shasta in the Cascade Mountains. Some residents were already struggling financially, Houck said.

“There’s a fear here that maybe we didn’t have before,” Houck said. “Because you know, “That’s never going to happen to us.’ And it did. And so when the wind blows up or you see a campfire or something like that, you have a really healthy fear now of fire and what it can do and what it’s all about, how quickly it can move and change lives.”

About 60 percent of the residents who lost their homes are rebuilding, Weed Mayor Bob Hall said. Some were not insured or were under-insured, others do not have the resources to meet new building requirements, but the rebuilding is going well, he said.

Houck, who is originally from Minnesota, said she had thought about moving to somewhere greener and wetter but also that she had made a home in Weed.

Had her house burned, she said, “It’s scary to rebuild in a fire zone.”

In the end, Mejia’s house was undamaged. One of the first things he did after the fire was trim plants back. Even now he finds burnt sticks and leaves in his yard. He worries about the vegetation that remains by the Prado Dam, eucalyptus trees that didn't burn for example.

"The summer isn't over yet," he said. "There is still a lot of vegetation down there."

A company that branded its out-of-state eggs as “California Ranch Fresh” is ending a consumer protection lawsuit by shelling out an unusual settlement: 201,240 eggs donated to San Diego food banks.

The San Diego City Attorney’s office filed the suit against Luberski, Inc., and its brand Hidden Villa Ranch, whose products are sold at local Costco stores. 

An investigation revealed the company would label its eggs as “California Ranch Fresh” and “A Product of Hidden Villa Ranch, Fullerton CA.” However, the eggs actually came from out-of-state plants, according to city attorney spokesman Gerry Braun.

To settle the lawsuit, both sides hatched a plan that would cut into the company’s bottom line while helping needy San Diegans. Hidden Villa Ranch will donate $50,000 worth of eggs to Feeding American San Diego and the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, while also paying $53,517 in penalties and investigation costs.

Braun said City Attorney Jan Goldsmith does not typically take settlements that are not U.S. currency, but his office tries to cook up ways for defendants to give back to the community.

“This was a creative resolution, and a win-win for San Diego,” Goldsmith said in a news release. “Our food banks get $50,000 in eggs to help the needy. Our office enforces the law, and Hidden Villa Ranch is held accountable.”

Concern over the branding rose when farms outside California recalled their eggs due to salmonella poisoning. Braun said people who mistakenly believed their eggs were from California would not check to see if their food was part of the recall.

Hidden Villa Ranch also had the potential of violating the state’s Standards for Confining Farm Animals initiative, which lays requirements for California egg producers and out-of-state plants that sell within our borders.

According to Braun, Hidden Villa Ranch changed its packaging as the lawsuit was resolved.

NBC 7 has reached out to Hidden Villa Ranch for comment on this story, but we have not heard back.

The San Diego Food Bank’s President and CEO James Floros said food donations are slow during the summer months, while demand is up from students who can’t get school meals.

“The timing of this donation could not be better,” Floros said in the release, adding that eggs are a tough commodity to come by.

Because they are so fragile, they are rarely given to food banks, which need them as a good source of protein.

“Thanks to this valuable donation, we’ve been able to distribute more than 400 cases of eggs at our school pantries across San Diego County,” Jenny Seneor, the Director of Programs for Feeding America San Diego, said in the release. “Our clients consistently share how important it is for them to be able to put healthy meals on the table for their growing children.”

To see where your eggs come from, check the egg plant’s code number, printed on the carton, at the USDA’s website.

If you have a consumer complaint, call the city Consumer & Environmental Protection Unit’s hotline at 619-533-5600.
 

Inside a Poway warehouse, the first of six school buses are starting the transformation from diesel to electric.

A pilot program inspired by the Clinton Global Initiative spearheaded the initiative, and the first electric buses will be some of the first of their kinds in the world.

“Six is a small number considering there are 473,000 school buses in the U.S. today, but this project is a demonstration project, a research project to do real world testing,” said National Strategies Managing Director Kevin Matthews.

Matthews, heading the project from Washington D.C., called it a game changer.

The zero emission buses would not only benefit the environment and alleviate health concerns for kids and drivers, but could make districts money.

TransPower, a Poway based firm specializing in medium and heavy duty Electric Vehicle Technology, won the bid and has already started replacing the fuel tanks with battery tanks and the engines with electric motors.

The buses go into service this fall in the Torrance Unified School District and Napa Valley District and are the first of their kind capable of putting the stored energy in the batteries back into the grid.

Electricity prices fluctuate like the stock market, so districts could buy low and sell high, using the buses and the batteries as electrical storage units.

“School buses sit idle 80 percent of the hours in a year, meaning they don't go anywhere they sit in a parking lot, so during those idle times, using their batteries and the energy stored in them to put back on the grid when needed in order to generate revenue, so thereby reducing the total cost of ownership of an all-electric school bus when compared to that of a traditional diesel school bus,” Matthews said.

The downside to the plan is the upfront cost. Electric buses cost way more than diesel buses.
Initial projections show districts would start receiving a return on their investment after eight years.

The goal of this pilot project, once complete, is to serve as a road map for school districts around the nation interested in making the leap to zero emission technology.

The Palomar Health Board of Directors are expected to decide Wednesday night if they are going to close the downtown Escondido hospital, which officials say is losing more than $20 million a year.

The campus, located on E. Valley Parkway, was built in 1950 to add more hospital beds to the North County.

But with the addition of the new Palomar Medical Center on Citracado Parkway, none of their hospitals are operating at capacity, Palomar Health's spokesperson said, and it would take more than $270 million over the next five years to upgrade the downtown structure.

According to Palomar spokeswoman Bobette Brown, a decision is imminent, but board members could ask for more public comment or a study rather than cast their vote Wednesday.

Robroy Fawcett, an Escondido resident speaking for a coalition that wants to save the hospital, said closing it before the end of fire season could prove catastrophic.

'We need to keep this hospital open through fire season," said Fawcett. "They have a history of other hospitals being shut down or unavailable. This hospital is the most fire safe hospital. We are in a historic drought."

A group of nurses is also protesting the potential closure, voicing their concern at public meetings earlier this week. They say if Palomar Health cuts hospital beds, patients will see longer emergency room wait times at other facilities.

One registered nurse told NBC 7 she though the decision was made suddenly and secretly, and it should have been announced earlier.

Since the Palomar Medical Center is not completed, officials say they plan to use urgent care centers to make up for the loss of a downtown emergency room.

Some who live around the downtown Escondido campus say they do not want an empty building sitting in their neighborhood.
 

The controversy surrounding the office of San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts took another turn Wednesday.

Sources have confirmed to NBC 7 Investigates that San Diego County counsel has decided it should hire outside attorneys to defend two former Roberts employees in a lawsuit brought against them by a current Roberts employee, Harold Meza.

The outside counsel would represent Roberts' former Chief of Staff Glynnis Vaughan and his former scheduler Diane Porter.

Meza, a community representative in Roberts' office, filed a lawsuit against both women for allegedly creating a hostile work environment for him. The women have filed claims against the supervisor and the county, identifying Meza in one suit as a “great source of consternation and turmoil amongst the staff.”

The decision to hire outside counsel was made Tuesday in a Board of County Supervisors meeting, according to NBC 7 Investigates sources.

One source explained Vaughan would have been defended by the county no matter what because she was in a supervisorial position. The decision to also defend Porter was based on the “scope of her employment” with the county at the time of her resignation, according to a high ranking county official.

During the discussions Tuesday, the high ranking county official told NBC 7 Investigates a representative for county counsel said, “we can’t represent everyone.”

In his lawsuit against the women, Meza said they both spread “vicious ugly rumors” and “smeared my reputation.”

In Porter’s claim against Roberts and the county, attorney Christopher Morris wrote, “staff viewed their (Roberts and Meza's) relationship as an inappropriate personal relationship being publicly carried on between a subordinate and supervisor.”

At the press conference announcing his lawsuit earlier this month, Meza said these were “outrageous and obscene allegations about me.”

In addition to Porter and Vaughan, another former Roberts staff member, Lindsey Masukawa, has also filed a claim against Roberts and the county. In her claim she alleges Roberts misused his public office for political purposes and offered her a higher paying job to lie about it to Human Resources.

The county has 45 days to respond to the claims made by the former employees. The first claim was filed May 13 by Porter.

A San Diego veteran says he is heading back to Iraq in a mission to fight the Islamic State. 

Roberto Pena will not be going for religious reasons or because he loves his country. He says, his willingness to fight the militants is about compassion. 

“It's about humanity itself," says Pena. "We cannot let atrocities continue to happen and history keep repeating itself, where we just turn a blind eye."

The Marine veteran says he is part of a growing group called, Veterans Against ISIS, who are planning to return to Iraq to fight. 

“We're not going to wait around until they grow or they are on our soil,” he said. 

Pena joined the Marines in 2001 and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. The 0311 Rifleman fought in the Battle of Fallujah in 2004, one of the toughest battles fought in the Iraq war. He says in house to house combat, “you could see the features of the person in front of you, just literally across the street from you, from window to window from street to street.”

He survived that battle, and says he knows returning to Iraq to fight ISIS is dangerous.

“I understand the risk," he said.

ISIS has placed a high bounty price on Americans. Pena believes it's because they know what U.S. veterans are capable of.

“When we go over there they do fear us," Pena said. "So they want to deter any way they can and that is the way I see it.”

When asked about the risk of being captured, he says he does not expect anyone to rescue or attempt to save him.

“I put myself in that position because I truly believe that we need individuals there to fight against ISIS," he said. "And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure I don’t get caught. But if I do get caught, I just want my family to know, my loved ones to know, my friends, America, humanity to know, it’s not for nothing. We need to take a stand against them.”

Despite the risk, Pena's family and wife support his choice to go.

“She absolutely understands," Pena said. "She was with me since I was in the Marines, so she has the same kind of dedication I do.”

Pena says his group is working with Kurdish fighters who have had victories against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In final preparation, he is raising money online to pay for gear, travel, and help support his wife while he is away.

He is one of about 36 American veterans, he says, that plan to go to Iraq to fight. There are other American and foreign figthers battling ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

According to a State Department Spokesperson, the U.S. government does not support private U.S. citizens traveling abroad to fight against ISIS. Recently, a Massachusetts resident was killed while fighting ISIS in Syria. Keith Broomfield, 36, who joined a Kurdish militia fighting ISIS on Feb. 24, was laid to rest last week. 

Pena says he's not being paid a dime for his efforts. 

“The only thing we are walking away with is pride, knowing we did something for humanity, “ he said.

La Mesa Police have released a surveillance photo of a person they say is a suspect in the case of a Navy veteran and clown who was brutally beaten. 

A Navy veteran who performs as a clown for children was brutally beaten by a stranger at a public transit stop in San Diego’s East County while his attacker remains at large. Police described the suspect as a 17-year-old male with long, braided hair. At the time of the incident he was wearing a white sweatshirt, blue jeans and a black baseball cap with red tennis shoes. 

On June 13, around 8 p.m., Frank Cerasoli was in downtown La Mesa wrapping up a shopping trip for balloons and clown makeup at the Gypsy Treasure costume store.

As he left the store to make his way back home, an unknown man violently attacked him at the La Mesa Trolley Station at 8248 La Mesa Blvd., police confirmed.

Cerasoli was left bruised and bloodied – and confused about what happened and why he was attacked.

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La Mesa police officers arrived on scene quickly, but the suspect was gone and no arrests were made. Many witnesses had boarded the Trolley, too. Police launched an investigation into the battery case and said they’re looking for any witnesses who saw the beating and may have more information on the suspect.

Cerasoli told NBC 7 he left the costume store around 7 p.m. and walked toward the Trolley Station. During his walk, he came across a young couple.

He said the woman made a funny face at him, so he made a funny face back. Apparently, the woman’s male companion did not like this exchange.

Before he could make sense of anything, Cerasoli said the man began pummeling him with his fists.

“I said, ‘Hey, just let it go man. Let it go.’ And he kept coming toward me and I was walking away,” he recalled. “The next thing I know, I was ‘Bam!’ I got slammed at the back of the head and I went face down on the ground.”

“I’m trying to tell the guy, ‘Let it go. Get off me. Stop,’” he added.

After the beating, the suspect fled the scene.

When police officers arrived, they asked Cerasoli to give them a description of his attacker, but he didn’t have much to share.

“I can’t really tell you, exactly, what occurred,” he said.

Cerasoli is a Navy veteran. When he was younger, he was involved in motorcycle accident that left him with short-term memory loss.

Today, if he wants to remember something, he has to write it down in a book that he keeps.

“If you want to know anything about me, it’s pretty much in there,” he explained.

Given that he was badly hurt in the Trolley station attack, Cerasoli said he wasn’t able to write everything down about the incident before he forgot some of the details, including what the suspect looks like.

However, he said he’ll never forget the attack – and how it made him feel.

“What he did was incorrect,” he said of his attacker. “He needs to learn it within himself.”

Cerasoli is well-known and loved by his community and often performs as “Scooter” the clown for children’s parties. He said nothing brings him more joy than making people happy.

Now, his friends and neighbors are rallying around him, hoping his attacker is found and justice is served.

The beating remains under investigation and police are now looking at surveillance video of the attack, trying to zone in on the suspect. Police said they began investigating after they obtained videosurveillance from the trolley.

For now, police believe there are many more witnesses out there who have not yet come forward. Again, anyone with information on the case should contact the La Mesa Police Department at (619) 667-1400 or Detective Patrick of the La Mesa Police at (619) 667-7538.

Two firefighters were stabbed as they responded to a medical call for an "intoxicated subject" in East Village Wednesday, according to San Diego Fire officials.

The incident happened at 3:55 p.m. in the 600 block of Park Boulevard, near the Park and Market trolley station.

A witness told NBC 7 that she saw a suspect wrestling with officers on the ground and a firefighter rush up to help them.

"[The suspect] kept struggling, kept fighting, kept swinging, kicking. And I didn't know he had a weapon and I seen him hit the fireman," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

She didn't realize the firefighter had been stabbed until other medics lifted up his shirt and revealed a wound to his left side. Another witness, Gary McIntire, described the chaotic scene.

"Two fireman sitting there, both of them stabbed," said McIntire. "You could see the stab wounds in the back. One of them had two stab wounds, bleeding bad. They're both awake."

Not long after, the suspect was put in handcuffs and taken to the hospital on a stretcher. One of the victims was taken to UCSD Medical Center, while the other was transported to Scripps Mercy Hospital, according to fire officials.

Police say their injuries are non-life threatening. They are not sure if the suspect is the intoxicated person whom firefighters were responding to help.

Cisterra Development of San Diego has proposed an East Village mixed-use project that would include 205 residential units and a 160-room, five-star Ritz Carlton hotel, according to Civic San Diego.

A selection committee of the city’s downtown project oversight agency is recommending that the Civic San Diego executive board enter into exclusive negotiations with Cisterra to develop the site at Seventh Avenue and Market Street.

The developer’s 751,5000-square-foot proposal also includes 46,000 square feet of retail space, some of which might be occupied by a gourmet grocer, according to a Civic San Diego statement. The residential units would include 58 for-sale condominiums, 115 market-rate apartments and 32 affordable apartments.

The selection committee is also recommending Civic San Diego approval of a proposal by Vancouver, Wash.-based Holland Partner Group for a mixed-use project at Park Boulevard and Market Street in East Village. That 550,000-square-foot development would include 341 apartments, 51,700 square feet of office space and 22,900 square feet of retail space.

Officials said Civic San Diego received several proposals after putting out a request for proposals for the development sites earlier this year. The agency’s Real Estate Budget/Finance & Administration Joint Committee is expected to review both recommendations on July 15.

Cisterra Development built downtown’s DiamondView Tower and is nearing completion on a new headquarters tower for Sempra Energy, both in East Village.
 

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A 10-year-old girl drowned and her two brothers remain hospitalized after all three were pulled from beneath the surface of a cloudy community swimming pool Wednesday as their mother, who was apparently unable to swim and tending two her two younger children, pleaded for help.

The five siblings were swimming in the shallow end of the pool with their mother at the MacArthur Place at 183 apartment complex on the 2300 block of North MacArthur Boulevard Wednesday afternoon when, according to police, the three drifted into the deep end as their mother's back was turned.

"When she didn't hear the sounds of the children playing anymore, she turned around and didn't see them anymore," Irving Police Department spokesman James McLellan said. "They appeared to have gone below the surface [of the water]."

The mother then began screaming for help, as police said they think she was unable to swim. A nearby maintenance man jumped into the pool and pulled two of the unconscious children out.

"That [drowning] can happen so quickly," McLellan said. "And very quickly, it becomes overwhelming for a single person to handle."

The three children were all transported to Children's Medical Center in Dallas where the woman's daughter, identified by the Dallas County medical examiner as 10-year-old August Smith, died. Irving police said the woman's two sons remained in the intensive care unit at the hospital Thursday morning in grave condition.

"According to [the] original officer that arrived first, she was not made aware that there was a third child in the pool," said McLellan. "In fact, she expressed a little frustration that she didn't know that."

Police are looking into the pool water's murky appearance for a possible reason no one noticed the third child. The pool was open and the water samples from the pool are being analyzed by code enforcement and the health department.

Irving city leaders released the following statement:

"We have established that this pool was in compliance with all City of Irving regulations when it was last inspected on November 10, 2014. Those standards and regulations mimic those established by the Texas Department of Health, and inspections occur every twelve months.

 

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Officials said though the drowning appears to be accidental, they are trying to determine how the three children ended up under water. Police said the mother does not face any charges, but police are still looking for any criminal signs that point to negligence.

NBC 5's Johnny Archer Ellen Bryan, Jocelyn Lockwood, Holley Ford, Todd L. Davis and Frank Heinz contributed to this report.

A news crew from an NBC station in Pittsburgh helped save a man who accidentally overdosed on heroin behind the wheel Wednesday night.

The crew was setting up for a live shot in Washington, Pennsylvania, when WPXI photographer Dave Clark noticed the man slumped in his car and began to give him CPR.

"I’m thinking, ‘OK, if we can just keep a pulse going till the paramedics get here, we'll be cool,'" he said. "But his pulse got weaker and weaker."

While Clark pulled the man from his car and administered CPR, reporter Cara Sapida dialed 911.

Medics arrived shortly after and were able to revive the man, who they said had overdosed on heroin. They said without Clark's quick action, the man likely would have died.

"Your cameraman originally brought his pulse back,” police officer Matt Karlowsky told WPXI. “He probably would've died if your crew wasn't there.”

Heroin and opioid overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in Pennsylvania, with more than 800 heroin-related deaths in 2014 alone, WPXI reported.