A car accident near Mesa College left one person dead on Saturday night.

San Diego Police Department responded to reports of a person hit by a vehicle at 10:20 p.m. at Linda Vista Road and Markham Street, just west of State Route 163.

The car's driver stayed at the scene of the accident.

Mesa College Drive and northbound Linda Vista Road were blocked during the investigation.

No other information was available.

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

Ever wanted to dine inside your own personal terrarium? Oh, it’s possible. A pop-up dining experience that began in Canada is making its first-ever stop into the U.S., heading straight for Liberty Station. Eater San Diego shares the scoop on that, plus other top stories of the week from San Diego’s food and drink scene.

Incoming Pop-Up Experience Features Dining Under a Dome
Reservations are now available for “Dinner With A View,” a roving, luxury pop-up dining experience that will make its first U.S. stop in San Diego early next year. From Feb. 6, 2020, to March 8, 2020, Liberty Station's central promenade will be dotted with 33 clear geodesic domes, or terrariums, filled with tables, chairs and diners. Tickets to this pop-up (which don’t come cheap), include a three-course dinner prepared by a yet-to-be-announced but high-profile chef.

Sam the Cooking Guy Announces Second Eatery
Sam "The Cooking Guy" Zien, the popular, localled-based Emmy-winning television personality and cookbook author will follow up his Not Not Tacos concept in the Little Italy Food Hall with Graze by Sam the Cooking Guy. Opening early next year across from the food hall, the restaurant will also feature a full cocktail bar and retail beer and wine shop.

Topgolf Eyes Harbor Island for Expansion
The sporting and entertainment company, which operates venues around the globe, has submitted a proposal to the Port of San Diego for a giant, multi-story complex that would land on Harbor Island. Featuring high-tech interactive golfing ranges, a variety of games, and HDTVs, the site also includes event space, a restaurant, and bar.

Sweet Return: Babycakes Bakery is Back in Hillcrest
After spending a decade in Hillcrest, Babycakes Bakery had been closed for the past year. Now, the dessert shop has reopened in a nearby location with its specialty cupcakes in more than 20 flavors, plus other sweet treats including tarts, cookies, and custom cakes. The café plans to add a coffee menu soon as well as a bubbly bar pouring sparkling wine.

Oceanside Scores Craft Distillery and Restaurant
San Diego's newest distillery is now open in downtown Oceanside. Pacific Coast Spirits spans 12,000 square feet, making a variety of distillates that includes gin, vodka, brandy, and whiskey. The bar offers craft cocktails and the farm-to-table restaurant serves a menu of shared plates including – wait for it – a sampler that boasts housemade bacon + fried chicken + a cornbread waffle made from the distillery’s spent grain.

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San Diego "Rick and Morty" fans will soon be able to drive the “Mortymobile” through Turo, a peer-to-peer carsharing company.

The Mortymobile, a 2010 Mazda3 hatchback with a terrified Morty on its roof, embarked on its national tour in Los Angeles in November.

Now, it's making its way a little further south.

The Mortymobile will be in San Diego for your viewing and driving pleasure from Dec. 9 through Dec. 16. Right now only San Diego is on the list of upcoming adventures for the Mortymobile, but more locations will be added soon.

Reservations to drive the car in San Diego are supposed to open to the public on Monday. To get behind the wheel of this special car, drivers must be at least 30 years old.

One San Diego day in the Mortymobile will cost you $246, according to Turo spokesperson Jessica Roey. And, while that price may seem steep, Roey said it was set to protect the precious cargo up top.

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“As is the case with many of his adventures, Morty is clinging on for dear life,” Roey said.

If you just want to see Mortymobile, Roey said the decked out car will be using an area near Mission Bay as its homebase, but no word on its exact location or public viewing times just yet.

The fourth season of "Rick and Morty" kicked off on Nov. 10, so Turo and Adult Swim partnered to craft this car that will surely turn heads and attract "intergalactic attention."

If you do become one of the lucky drivers, the rules state Morty cannot be left unattended and he needs at least 8 feet of clearance.

Fans may also remember a sweet little ride called the "Rickmobile" and its popular 42-city tour. Well, Rickmobile and Mortymobile do not have any plans to meet up, but Roey said Turo was looking into it for 2020, so stay tuned for that adventure.

To help make sure you stay informed, each Sunday we revisit five stories from the previous week and capsulize them in this digest. 

1. Girl, 10, Gets Make-A-Wish Trip to See Castles, Meet Loch Ness Monster in Scotland

Ten-year-old Julia Davidson had absolutely no idea what splendors were waiting for her when she walked into a Macy’s department store Wednesday. Julia, who has been battling cancer but is now in remission, walked down a red carpet lined by friends and well wishers to see a big sign painted with a classic Loch Ness monster that said, "Julia, your wish is coming true!"

2. 2 Moms With Kids at Rady Children’s Gifted New Cars for ‘12 Cars of Christmas’

Christmas came early for two single mothers with children undergoing treatment at Rady Children's Hospital who have struggled to take care of their children’s frequent medical needs without reliable transportation. The Geico-donated cars came with trunk-loads of surprise gifts for the children as well. 

3. Packing a Punch: Mission Bay Boxer, 36, Eyes 2020 Summer Olympics

Everyone loves a good comeback, which is why a 36-year-old Mission Bay woman’s return to the sport of boxing could make for one of the most memorable storylines of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Danyelle Wolf was one of eight women competing for a title in the 152-pound weight class at Team USA’s Boxing Team Trials in Lousiana. The winners of each weight class will represent the United States at next summer’s Olympics.

4. 15-Ounce 'Micro-Preemie' Raising Awareness for Holiday Blood Donations

"Micro-Preemie" Giselle Flores born four months early and weighing just 15-ounces has already made a name for herself at the San Diego Blood Bank triggering more than 300 blood donations. Her family, wanting to do something to help in this helpless time, put out a call to friends about donating blood. The message spread quickly on social media, so much the San Diego Blood Bank even created a special code for people donating in honor of baby Giselle.

5. Locals Campaign for Impromptu 'Restaurant Week' Once Poway's Boil Advisory is Lifted

In typical Poway fashion, residents patiently waiting for the state to lift a Precautionary Boil Water Advisory are already formulating a plan to help restaurants recover their losses once water is running. Fearful of the impact the advisory would have on industry employees and city-wide economics, Poway residents took to social media to plan an impromptu Restaurant Week to help businesses and workers recover.

A joint memorial service on Saturday celebrated and remembered a loving mother and her four sons who were killed in a tragic murder-suicide in November.

On stage at the service, four blue flower bouquets surrounded one pink flower bouquet to represent Sabrina Rosario surrounded by her boys.

Family and friends gathered for a 6:30 p.m. service at Centro Familiar Cristiano Church in Paradise Hills to honor Sabrina Rosario, 29, and her sons Enzi Valdivia, 3, Zuriel Valdivia, 5, Ezekiel Valdivia, 9, and Zeth Valdivia, 11.

The service was filled with loss, but also with music and joy as loved ones celebrated those lost. Some even arrived dressed as Batman, Sabrina's favorite superhero.

"We want to cry? Yes. Are we angry? Yes, but we're going to focus on being at peace because they are together, they're resting already" said Cesar Ruiz, Sabrina's uncle.

Sabrina's mother and the boys' grandmother, Gloria Collins, wanted people to remember Sabrina for the dedication and love she gave to her children.

"She was living only for her children. She would wake up, run into the school, run into the baseball practice," Collins said. "Yes, I am proud of my daughter. She was doing her best."

Six family members, including the suspect, were found with gunshot wounds in their Paradise Hills home on Nov. 16. Investigators believe the boys' father shot his estranged wife Sabrina Rosario, the four boys and then himself, SDPD Lt. Matt Dobbs said.

The only surviving family member, 9-year-old Ezekiel Valdivia, remained in a coma and later died after being taken off life support, family members confirmed. His family decided to donate his organs.

“He was fighting for his life, but God had the last word,” Collins said. “Maybe it was the best for him, for them to be together.”

Less than 24 hours before José Valdivia, 31, shot his family in their Paradise Hills home, a San Diego judge approved a restraining order commanding him to stay away from the family, according to court documents obtained by NBC 7 on Nov. 18.

It was not clear if suspect José Valdivia was served with the paperwork before opening fire on Sabrina Rosario and the children the following day.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Sunday that his panel will "presumably" present articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump this week, NBC News reports.

"We’ll bring articles of impeachment presumably before the committee at some point later in the week,” Nadler, D-N.Y., said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press."

On Monday, the committee will hear from both Democrats and Republicans on the Intelligence Committee about the findings from their investigation into allegations that the president led a campaign to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the top Democrats running for president in 2020.

Nadler said that congressional leaders haven't finalized many of the key details of what may be included in any impeachment articles, saying that there are still significant "consultations" to come between committee members, House Democrats and Democratic leaders before they are finalized.

A North Park couple is looking for the long lost owner of two boxes of handpainted Christmas tree ornaments found scattered on a sidewalk near their home.

Bleu Ford told NBC 7 that her wife was walking their dog back in April when she saw the beautiful ornaments and their velvet boxes thrown all over the sidewalk.

Ford said she put the ornaments back in their boxes and posted them on Nextdoor and Craigslist. Plenty of people commented on her post but she's had no luck finding the owner.

Last spring, Ford said there were several homeless people living in the area. She's not sure if the ornaments belonged to one of them or if someone's home or storage unit was broken into, nonetheless she wants to get them home.

Ford's family loves Christmas and she said she understands how sentimental ornaments can be, so it's important to her to find the owner.

“Get a hold of me, let's get them back on your tree, that's where they belong. I really hope we can find the owners of these," Ford said. "If not, it will be a story on our tree, but I really want to get them back to where they belong."

There are a couple of names and dates on the ornaments, like Caden and Taylor. There are other names and hopefully the owner of these family ornaments can identify them soon.

If you know who owns the ornaments, you can contact mamaeleu62@gmail.com.

A crash on Interstate 15 in Rancho Bernardo left one person dead Monday morning and caused traffic delays for morning commuters. 

The 34-year-old driver from Menifee, California for unknown reasons entered southbound I-15 via the HOV onramp from Via Rancho Parkway and quickly veered across all four lanes of traffic.

His silver Nisan SUV crashed through a guardrail and landed in an embankment on the right-hand shoulder, according to the California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Latulippe. 

The crashed car was found in the grassy embankment by a CHP officer at about 6 a.m. The CHP officer attempted to revive the man, but he was declared dead at the scene.

Witnesses told CHP that there may have been a car fire but CHP did not confirm if the car ever ignited. 

The onramp from Via Rancho Parkway to southbound I-15 was closed for the CHP investigation into the crash. The Del Lago HOV onramp was open to all traffic. 

Traffic on southbound I-15 and state Route 78 was backed up during the morning commute due to the crash.

No other information was available.

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

A man was struck in the head with a hammer in a road rage argument in the Point Loma Heights neighborhood of San Diego on Sunday, according to police. 

The suspect in a silver 2002 Toyota Forerunner cut off a driver at W. Point Loma and Famosa boulevards just before 6 p.m. on Sunday, which prompted both drivers to pull over and begin arguing, the San Diego Police Department said.

The suspect pulled out a hammer, at which point, a passenger got out of the vehicle to confront the armed suspect. The man struck the passenger with the hammer, which left him with a one-inch gash in the head, SDPD said. 

Meanwhile, the driver of the second vehicle pulled out a crowbar. He struck the silver truck's windshield as he drove away from the scene, police said. 

The suspect, described as a heavy-set man in his 50s, has not yet been located. He was wearing a flannel shirt and tan shorts at the time of the incident, SDPD said. 

The driver and passenger were not facing charges as of Monday morning, SDPD said. 

No other information was available.

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

The Justice Department's internal watchdog report on the origins of the Russia investigation was released on Monday. Here is the report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Pete Frates, the inspiration for the Ice Bucket Challenge to benefit ALS, has died, according to his family. 

The Beverly, Massachusetts, native and former Boston College baseball star was diagnosed with the progressive disease, known both as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lou Gherig's disease, in 2012, when he was 27. He helped start the Ice Bucket Challenge two years later, and it immediately raised tens of millions of dollars for research into the disease. 

"Today Heaven received our angel: Peter Frates. A husband to Julie, a father to Lucy, a son to John and Nancy, a brother to Andrew and Jennifer, Pete passed away surrounded by his loving family, peacefully at age 34, after a heroic battle with ALS," the family said in a statement Monday. 

The Ice Bucket Challenge, in which people recorded videos of themselves pouring buckets of ice over their heads before challenging several other people to do so as well, went massively viral in the summer of 2014, bringing in celebrities and average people alike. 

It made Frates a nationally renowned figure as well, being named Sports Illustrated's "Inspiration of the Year" in 2014 and winning the NCAA Inspiration of the Year award in 2017. 

He was even signed to an honorary contract with the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day in 2015 — the team would go on to give Frates his own World Series ring commemorating their 2018 victory. 

Sept. 5 was named Pete Frates Day in Boston on that day in 2017.

His family remembered him as a global inspiration who never complained about having ALS: 

Pete was an inspiration to so many people around the world who drew strength from his courage and resiliency. A natural born leader and the ultimate teammate, Pete was a role model for all, especially young athletes, who looked up to him for his bravery and unwavering positive spirit in the face of adversity. He was a noble fighter who inspired us all to use our talents and strengths in the service of others. 

The family urged others to celebrate Frates and his work " by following his daily affirmation: Be passionate, be genuine, be hardworking and don’t ever be afraid to be great." 

Remembrances immediately began pouring in from Boston and beyond on Monday.

Boston College called Frates a beloved role model who exemplified the values of "courage, integrity, selflessness, and a commitment to helping others" that the university holds dear. 

"The Peter Frates Center for baseball and softball in the Harrington Athletics Village will stand as a testament to his enduring legacy. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Frates family, who have been an inspiration in their loving devotion to Pete and the cause of ALS research," the university said in a statement.

Someone is diagnosed with ALS every 90 minutes. The progressive neurodegenerative disease causes muscle weakness, paralysis and ultimately respiratory failure. 

There is no cure, but the Ice Bucket Challenge aimed to change that by raising awareness and funds for research — some of that money helped the University of Massachusetts Medical School identify a new ALS gene. 

As the Ice Bucket Challenge spread in 2014, more than 17 million people posted videos of themselves participating in the challenge and their videos were watched about 10 billion times. It raised about $220 million for ALS charities worldwide in the first year alone.

An apartment fire in El Cajon on Saturday afternoon displaced at least 23 people from several apartment units.

San Miguel Fire and Rescue Department responded to reports of a fire at an apartment at 745 E. Bradley Avenue in El Cajon. 

When firefighters first arrived, only a light smoke could be seen. Firefighters believe the fire started between the walls and spread quickly from there, into other units and up to the roof. 

"You could smell electrical burning really bad. The coating on the wires was just melting everywhere," said resident Steven Boyer. "They've got guys putting holes in the roof to get it all put out."

In total, nine units were damaged in a fire that appeared to travel inside the walls and was thus hard to find, Battalion Chief Andy Lawler said. At least 23 residents and a number of pets were displaced.

Lawler said the fire most likely started while a construction worker was soldering plumbing pipes in the wall of a vacant unit. The extensive heat from the soldering caused surrounding materials like drywall and wood to catch fire.

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One man burned his hands in the fire, San Miguel Fire said.

The American Red Cross was called to help people find housing.

Lakeside, Santee and Heartland Fire-Rescue Departments also responded to the incident, as well as SDG&E.

No other information was available.

On April 18, 2019, a few minutes after midnight, two women were stopped at the San Ysidro Port of Entry while returning from a trip to Tijuana, Mexico. According to federal prosecutors, a Customs and Border Protection agent looked under the 2006 Ford Explorer that the women were in and noticed new bolts on the gas tank. Minutes later hidden inside the gas tank, agents found 53 packages, totaling 69 pounds of methamphetamine or “meth”.

Hours earlier, at the same border crossing, a man was traveling from Mexico when he was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents. A drug-detecting canine had alerted agents to the man’s 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Hidden inside a spare tire, the seats, as well as the door panels were 20 packages of meth, weighing more than 110 pounds. 

The drug seizures were just two out of a half dozen that occurred over the course of just one day, from April 17 to April 18, 2019, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere. During that 24-hour span, agents at the border crossing confiscated 246 pounds of meth coming from Mexico. An additional 102 pounds of meth was confiscated at two other border checkpoints elsewhere in San Diego County that same day.

The seizures provide a snapshot of what local law enforcement face in their day to day fight to address a surge in the amount of meth smuggled across the U.S. Mexico border. The surge has had ripple effects throughout the region, including an increase in meth-related deaths and crimes in cities and communities throughout San Diego County. 

It is a new fight against familiar opposition. 

In the late-1980s, San Diego County was a hotbed for methamphetamine use and production. So much so that law enforcement referred to the region as the “meth capital of the world.” The meth was manufactured inside dozens of makeshift meth-labs run out of abandoned homes and in rural areas. 

In hopes of addressing the new drug epidemic, Congress passed the Combat Methamphetamine Act in 2005, a law that made it harder to obtain the ingredients used to manufacture meth. The law had a major impact on how meth was made. Soon after, the region and the country witnessed a shift in the production of meth from backyard labs to intricate Mexican super labs controlled by drug cartels. In recent years, Mexican drug cartels began flooding the border with an increasingly potent strain of meth. 

The resurgence of meth into the region has led drug enforcement agents to refer to San Diego County as “ground zero” for the nation’s meth problem.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

“It's coming across in incredible levels right now,” Nathan Jones, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the San Diego Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) told NBC 7 Investigates. 

The amount of meth seized by law enforcement in San Diego County has grown exponentially in the last five years. 

Data obtained by NBC 7 Investigates show in 2013, more than 13,000 pounds of meth was seized by local and federal law enforcement agencies. By 2018, the amount grew to more than 45,000 pounds.

Inside a nondescript commercial building in the City of Vista, a DEA chemist uses a boxcutter to open a package wrapped in duct tape. Inside the package are meth crystals, some the size of a quarter, others as large as five-inches in diameter. The chemist pours the crystals onto his workbench. With a pestle and mortar, he grinds the crystal into a fine powder for a purity test. 

The chemist, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, said the new batches of meth he and his staff have recently tested are purer than ever before. 

“Five to ten years ago, it would look like I rolled it around in the mud a little bit,” the chemist said. “This is relatively pure methamphetamine, almost 100 percent pure.” 

Stacked up against a wall in the lab are dozens of similar looking packages, all containing meth waiting to be tested. It is in this building where drugs, seized by federal law enforcement agencies from the entire Southwestern United States, get tested and later incinerated. 

“It's changed significantly in the past five 10 years,” the chemist said. “So now we’re seeing a higher quality and higher purity than we did in the past.” 

The purer the meth, the more dangerous it becomes and that has led to a record number of deaths. 

In 1997, the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office listed methamphetamine as a cause or contributing factor in the deaths of 60 people. By 2018, NBC 7 found 318 people died from meth-related causes -- an increase of 470 percent. 

In more than half of the meth-related deaths from 1997 to 2018, the Medical Examiner detected meth along with another substance, such as fentanyl, heroin, or alcohol, as being a cause or a contributing factor in the person’s death. 

The numbers are much higher, according to figures from the San Diego Meth Strike Force, a coalition of dozens of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that focuses on education and treatment of methamphetamine. The Strike Force says the numbers are higher when counting those who had meth detected in their blood system, even if the drug was not a contributing factor in the person's death. 

In 2016, the Meth Strike Force estimated on average, a person died in San Diego County every 23 hours “because of meth.”

Marla Kingkade, a coordinator for the Meth Strike Force, told NBC 7 one-third of individuals admitted to public funded treatment programs are treated for methamphetamine misuse. The task force found the average age of someone using meth is 25-years-old or older.

The City of La Mesa has the highest per capita death rate. In the last 21 years, for every 1,000 people, nearly four people died in La Mesa from a meth-related cause. The City of El Cajon has the second highest per capita death rate, followed by Oceanside and Escondido where one out of every 1,000 people died as a result of meth abuse. 

The youngest person to die since 1997 was a 14-year-old girl from Escondido who overdosed on methamphetamine. A 78-year-old woman with heart disease, visiting San Diego from Baltimore in 2012 was the oldest. The analysis also found eight stillbirths caused by maternal meth abuse since 1997. The average age of a person who died from a meth-related cause in San Diego County is 46-years-old. 

The high potency of the meth manufactured in superlabs across the border has made it easier for users to get hooked on methamphetamine. And in their quest to satiate their addiction, users can turn to crime in a distorted sense of reality. 

Tommy Winfrey was one of those people. 

He was born in Texas to an alcoholic father. His family relocated to Los Angeles, where he lived in a rough neighborhood. By the time he was 16, Winfrey was addicted to meth. 

“I did this drug and it made me feel good for a change,” Winfrey told NBC 7 Investigates. “I kind of just went down a rabbit hole and got lost into that world. Everyone around me was addicted to meth, whether it was smoking it or shooting it up. Every day my life revolved around committing crimes. I was living on the fringes of society.” 

By 19, Winfrey was in the throes of total addiction. 

“I think that period of my life, there was about a year period where I slept maybe 30 days and all year. I was using a lot of meth every day.” 

It was during one of the bouts of sleeplessness when Winfrey made the worst decision of his life. Winfrey, who was selling meth to support his habit, was armed with a gun when he confronted a man who owed him money. 

“I shot him six times at point blank range,” Winfrey said. 

In 1997, Winfrey was sentenced to life in prison, eventually ending up at California’s San Quentin Prison. 

Winfrey believes prison saved his life. He went to therapy, earned three degrees, started writing, painting and learned computer coding through The Last Mile, a program that prepares inmates for successful reentry into society through business and technology training. 

At a Parole Board hearing for Winfrey, Mark Remis, the Deputy Commissioner said, “You seem to have turned a corner. You have quite a lot of support from your programs you've been doing from prison. All of the letters of support from people in the community, other inmates too, which we don't see often." 

In 2017, after 20 years in prison, Winfrey was released on parole. 

Winfrey’s parole was granted under SB 261, a youth offender parole law that went into effect in January of 2016. Under a 2014 law, youth offenders who committed crimes before the age of 18, many of whom faced life sentences, became eligible for parole after serving 15 to 25 years behind bars. The 2016 amendment to the law includes people who committed their crimes before the age of 23. 

Now married and in recovery, Winfrey works for the Children’s Initiative, an organization dedicated to underserved families. He specifically works on juvenile justice issues. 

“I think we need more programs designed for youth that teach them emotional intelligence,” Winfrey said. “And I think that could help them regulate their emotions a lot better and not seek out substances like meth.” 

Winfrey’s story resonates with thousands of San Diegans and their families struggling with substance abuse. 

Elon Burns, a substance abuse counselor and recovering addict himself, believes the answer to the problem is treating addiction as a disease. 

“There's still this thought and this idea out there that, 'Oh you must be a bad person, you must be a broken person,’” Burns said. “And as long as there is there's going to be a denial of the people that have it and denial from the family around it to see it.” 

NBC 7 Investigates recorded a podcast episode of INSIGHT on San Diego's meth crisis. Listen below: 

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse and want to seek help or who want to anonymously report meth or drug activity are encouraged to call the Meth Hotline at (877) NO-2-METH or by clicking here. Treatment is also available by calling the County’s Access and Crisis Line at (888) 724-7240 or by calling 2-1-1. 

How much do you know about methamphetamine?
Take this quiz below to find out.

A man accused of killing the mother of his two children on the day she intended to serve him with divorce papers is expected in San Diego court on Monday. 

Julia Maria Serrano Avila, 29, was killed in a shooting on Dec. 5 that was being investigated by San Diego police as a case of domestic violence. Her husband, 28-year-old Fernando Avila, was arrested as the sole suspect in the case. 

Fernando Avila faces a first-degree murder charge when he is arraigned in court on Monday. 

Julia Avila was shot at least once in the upper body on the street outside a City Heights pawn shop, blocks from the home she lived in with her and her husband's two children. 

San Diego police said at least three people witnessed the shooting. Violeta Marquez, who lives next door to the family, told NBC 7 she first heard screams and called 911. Then, she witnessed Fernando Avila fire two shots at Julia Avila.

“She sat on the sidewalk and that’s when I don’t know what he told her,” Marquez said. “And just like seconds, he shot her again.”

It was not clear how much, if any, of the shooting the children witnessed but they were inside the home at the time. The children, identified neighbors to be between 8- and 12-years-old, were taken to stay with family members, SDPD said.

NBC 7 learned that Julia Maria Serrano Avila had filed for divorce from Fernando Avila on Nov. 25. She was planning on serving Fernando Avila with those papers on Thursday, her father, Pablo Serrano, told NBC 7.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan spoke with NBC 7 about domestic violence in November.

“It’s an awful reminder of the devastation of domestic violence that still is the number one killer for women across the United States. They’re killed by someone who’s supposed to love them,” Stephan said. “Please seek help, because one way or another, the violence will escalate. You can’t stay in a violent, threatening home.”

Friends and coworkers of Julia Avila created a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for her two children. 

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. Please seek help.

A new high-tech tool at UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute allows researchers to virtually view the world in a whole new way. Dubbed the SunCAVE, it is the world’s highest resolution walk-in virtual reality environment.

Researchers can also walk right into the SunCAVE to study everything from the physical structure of proteins to ancient archaeological ruins.

“This is a very unique ability that we have here that allows scientists to really immerse themselves in their data,” said Dr. Dominique Rissolo, a research scientist at the Qualcomm Institute.

Rissolo’s latest project centers on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

“We’re exploring now in the SunCAVE a real cave. One that’s underwater, deep below the surface of the Yucatán Peninsula,” Rissolo said.

He said only the most experienced divers can physically access the 140-foot-deep cave, but the data they capture can be used to recreate it virtually and visit it over and over again.

“It’s a whole new frontier of discovery for us,” Rissolo said.

The SunCAVE, which stands for Cave Automated Virtual Environment, is made up of 70 4K, 3D screens connected to 35 computer nodes.

“The computers get used for image segmentation, that’s how we do the organ detection. They get used for looking at NASA weather data so we can try to come up with predictive models. Also, a lot of these computers are getting used for the WiFIRE project, where they’re actually doing simulations of wildfires when they happen,” Polizzi said.

“Very few places have high-end visualization systems, and nobody has a visualization system like this one,” said Visualization Engineering Technician Joel Polizzi.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. Disturbing video led to the arrest of a man accused of practicing for a mass shooting. 

Poway restaurants are hopeful the seemingly overnight Restaurant Week launch will help make up for lost sales from the recent citywide shutdown.

Poway city officials moved quickly to launch an emergency restaurant week, encouraging people countywide to dine in Poway with the slogan, “Eat Big, Tip Big.”

Poway's Giant New York Pizza has been in business for more than 30 years and owner Mike Hamama said in his three decades of making pizza for Poway, he has never seen a citywide shut down due to a boil water advisory.

“To be honest with you, it was really sad because we had to close down, it really hurts,” Hamama said. “It was a big loss. It was almost a week, we have bills to pay.”

Hamama said he lost a few thousand dollars in sales after the city called and emailed him Saturday night informing him he had to close his doors immediately.

Knowing he could not stay closed, he quickly applied for a modified health permit. After paying $460 as well as undergoing a health inspection check to prove he would not use tap water for food preparation or dishes, he passed.

“I was desperate to open, and it was worth it,” Hamama added.

He said he only used bottled water to clean his produce and prepare his dough.

Another restaurant, Mainstream’s Bar and Grill, paid for a modified health permit and opened Wednesday night. In order to follow the modified permit, the restaurant bought chopped lettuce, pre-sliced tomatoes, and they served food on paper plates.

“As a Poway resident, I am worried about my family,” said General Manager Brian Harvey. “How am I going to take care of them; but also, how are we going to keep the business floating when we don’t know when we are going to be able to open back up?"

"We threw a lot of food away. We basically cleaned out our whole line in our kitchen. All the produce was done,” Harvey added.

He said his business partners were also impacted by the forced shutdown.

“My liquor vendors, my produce vendors, my meat vendors, everyone is calling; we are not placing orders. It doesn’t just stop at the restaurant level, it goes deeper," Harvey said.

Harvey said he was grateful to his loyal customers who came as soon as he reopened to help his staff.

On Friday morning, before the ban was even lifted, Harvey said a regular customer came in and handed his server a white envelope after the meal, a tip for $1,000. Harvey said it made her Christmas as a single mother with two children at home.

On Friday night when the ban was finally lifted, the band Crossroads played as planned, but would not allow Harvey to pay them their usual set fee. Instead, the band asked Harvey to give that money to his staff.

“That is the community we have here in Poway, they come together for each other,” said Harvey.

NBC 7 Investigates has published a new episode of INSIGHT: a podcast that dives behind the stories and investigations that make headlines in our community.

INSIGHT Episode Eleven looks at the city of San Diego's use of thousands of small cameras installed on light posts. The city has touted the cameras, sensors, and the data those sensors collect as a way to improve city services, expedite traffic, identifiy available parking, and ensure pedestrian safety. But opponents say the way the program was rolled out lacked transparency. Now, public fears are mounting over the cameras "spying," and that the footage and the data that the cameras collect can be used without the public knowing.

Allegations have also been raised that the data could possibly be sold to third-parties. The city and company behind the data collection, General Electric, have denied any data sharing agreements.

Tom Jones and Dorian Hargrove discuss the new "smart streetlights" and recap the city's rollout of them as well as the call from some councilmembers to stop the program.

To read the team's full investigation, click here.

Police are searching for a driver who struck and killed a woman in a wheelchair in Valencia Park early Monday. 

The 62-year-old woman was riding a motorized scooter or wheelchair along Euclid Avenue when she was struck by a vehicle traveling the same direction just before 4 a.m., the San Diego Police Department said. 

The dark-colored vehicle took off from the scene. 

Witnesses attempted to help the woman and paramedics took over once on the scene. The woman died from her injuries. 

Police closed Euclid from Castana to Imperial Avenue for an investigation into the deadly crash. 

No other information was available.

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

The San Diego County Meth Strike Force revealed their 2019 report card on Monday morning with a look at the impacts of methamphetamine, also known as meth, in the local community.

The good news: San Diego County is no longer a large hub for meth labs.

The bad news: meth is still infiltrating San Diego County via Mexico at an alarming rate.

“We have Mexican drug cartels that are bringing this methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States – it’s cheaper, it’s easier to access, but it’s killing people and it’s devastating families,” said San Diego County Supervisor, Dianne Jacob.

The drug is being produced at ‘super labs’ in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S., according to Steve Woodland, Commander for the North County Task Force.

“More meth is seized along the California border, here in San Diego and Imperial County, then along the border of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas combined. The amount of meth seized here in San Diego increased 237% from the year 2013 to 2018. As a result, our communities are being flooded with meth that is being sold at record low prices,” said Woodland.

How low? “In 2003, one pound of meth had a street value of $15-20,000 dollars. Today that same one pound of meth can be purchased for $850,” added Woodland.

NBC 7 Investigates uncovered more about the meth crisis in San Diego County, including a closer look at the number of drug seizures at the border and the impacts on the local community. For the full report, click here.

The number of deaths related to methamphetamine increased by more than 30% in the last year in San Diego County, and doubled in the last five years, according to the San Diego County Deputy Medical Examiner.

Of these deaths, people between 45-to 65-years-old were the most impacted age group with meth-related deaths or overdoses.

“We need the community to wake up and realize that this is a true epidemic,” said San Diego County District Attorney, Summer Stephan.

To take action, the San Diego County Meth Task Force has created a "call to action" that involves promoting treatment options and preventing drug use in young people.

One of the big areas of focus will also be to increase public awareness of the treatment options available for addicts. The County currently operates a 24-7 hotline for people to get connected to treatment – but, as of now, the hotline is being underused.

“But the sad thing is, we’ve only had, in our hotline, known to meth, only 87 contacts. We should have about a thousand times more of those,” said Nick Macchione, Director, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency.

The Meth Strike Force was created in San Diego County in 1996 as a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary approach after San Diego became labeled the ‘meth capital of the United States,’ with the epicenter in the East County, according to San Diego County Supervisor, Dianne Jacob.

Police and federal agents had been waiting for Juice WRLD's plane to land at Midway Airport even before the rapper suffered a fatal medical emergency, authorities said Monday.

According to Chicago Police Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the rapper, whose real name is Jarad Higgins, and his entourage "were intercepted by the police department and FBI officials as they entered the lobby" of the Atlantic Aviation Hangar after traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago early Sunday morning. 

A search of luggage aboard the Gulfstream jet found 41 "vacuum-sealed" bags with a total of 70 pounds of marijuana and six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, police said. 

Investigators also said they found two 9mm pistols, a .40-caliber pistol, a high-capacity ammunition magazine and "metal-piercing bullets."

That's when Guglielmi said Higgins began convulsing.

An agent administered two doses of Narcan, which is given during emergencies believed to be caused by opioid overdoses. 

Higgins did wake up after the seizure but was "incoherent and bleeding from the mouth," authorities said. 

Among those who were with him at the time were two security guards and his girlfriend, who told police her boyfriend did not have any known medical issues but regularly takes Percocet and "has a drug problem."

The cause and manner of death for Higgins remained pending Monday afternoon, with cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology tests needed, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner.

Two men who were with the rapper at the time have been charged with weapons violations unrelated to his death, according to police.

Christopher Long, 36, of Bueno Park, California, was charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a weapon, Chicago police said. Henry Dean, 27, of Chicago, was charged with two concealed-carry firearms violations and with having a high-capacity magazine, all misdemeanors, according to police.

The two men were next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 30.

No drug charges had been filed against those onboard the flight as of Monday afternoon, according to Guglielmi. An investigation remains ongoing. 

Michael Recht is preparing for a day he never thought would come.

“I thought I would spend my last days here. I never thought this day would happen,” said Recht.

Recht is the owner of family-owned-and-operated fabric chain, Yardage Town. A store with a 66-year history in San Diego County and a classic American dream start.

“My father really enjoyed fabric. He was from Europe. He liked ‘wheeling and dealing’ and he enjoyed the fabric business. And, when he came to the United States, this is what he wanted to open up. He was first in New York and then he came to San Diego and started the business in 1953,” said Recht.

The first store was opened on Main Street in El Cajon. Shortly after, fifteen more stores opened across San Diego County. And, when Recht got old enough, the store was kept in the family – passed on to him, his sister and his nephew.

“Business was ‘booming’ and all the stores were busy. It was the ‘heyday’ of the fabric business and there were a lot of fabric stores in San Diego at that time, to take advantage of that. Everybody did business in those days. School taught sewing and people made their own things. It was a great time,” said Recht.

But, eventually, there was a shift in the local culture and many fabric stores started to go out of business. Recht credits the change to discount clothing stores opening and people not sewing as much. But still, Yardage Town kept its doors open.

“We kind of persevered. We really didn’t have anything else to do. We owned a lot of our own buildings which helped and so we didn’t have to pay enormous rents --and we just kind of stayed, even though business declined,” said Recht.

Decades later, Recht has decided to close the last four Yardage Town locations in Encinitas, Vista, Chula Vista and National City. The reason? No one to pass along the store’s legacy.

“Business was really declining. My sister left the business, my nephew left the business, and the main thing is I have nobody to leave it to. I have two children and none of them want anything to do with retail fabric sales. They’re into their own thing, and so they’re happy with what they’re doing and it’s time. I have no body left to leave it to,” said Recht.

Recht said it was a tough decision to make. It’s also a tough moment for the store’s 60-plus years-worth of local customers who have grown up with the Yardage Town brand.

“They’re kind of upset and they feel very badly. And I feel badly too but it’s kind of a thing that’s inevitable. Gonna have to close,” said Recht.

Yardage Town’s four locations will close starting at the end of March. The National City location is the store’s warehouse and will close last. Recht is asking everyone in the community to visit the store and find a deal before the family-run fabric store closes—leaving behind a strong San Diego business legacy.

“I’m gonna feel very empty. Very empty. It’s a legacy from my parents and it’s something they worked hard for and it’s going to be a very sad feeling. It’s going to be pretty depressing,” said Recht.

An online review criticizing a homeless man near North Park’s Nomad Donuts went viral after the owner publically supported and defended the man who calls the nearby sidewalk home.

Nomad Donuts owner Brad Keiller does not always respond to the nearly 1,000 reviews of his shop on the community-reviewed Yelp.com. In fact most reviews are positive, but a 1-star review from a frequent customer in November could not be left alone, Keiller said.

The review, which has since been removed, called out Nomad Donuts for letting Raymond “Ray” Taylor live in the area, often on one of the shop’s walls for the past year.

Keiller essentially told the reviewer that Taylor did not harm anyone and he would not chase him away.

“You’re not really treating him like a person, you know, we’re all here,” Keiller told NBC 7. “It’s really not that hard to say hi.”

Keiller’s compassionate response was screenshotted and shared around the world from the Philippines to South Africa, quickly receiving a sugary sweet community response.

But Keiller said he was nervous for Ray because he thought the attention might be too much.

He went and explained what happened to Ray who said he actually found it rather entertaining, but for a moment he worried the review would push him out of the area.

NBC 7 sat down with both Keiller and Taylor, the man of the hour, to chat about how their special relationship first started about a year ago.

“I used to live a couple blocks from the shop and I would just see Ray every day, and I think it just started with a wave and then a hello and next thing you know we were talking to each other,” Keiller said.

As for Taylor, he said he got tired of the drug addicts at his former Starbucks spot and decided to move to the area by Nomad Donuts.

“I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and the overall vibe of the business,” he added.

Keiller’s support for Taylor perhaps comes from his awareness of the housing problem in San Diego as rent prices increase. When you add in a crisis like an expensive medical problem, homelessness can be right around the corner, he said.

The lack of safety net from national healthcare also contributes to the problem, particularly in Taylor’s case, he said.

Taylor has been homeless for the past eight years, ever since he lost everything in the 2008 financial crash. After a series of economic pitfalls and a badly needed, unfunded knee and hip replacement, he made the financial decision to become homeless.

Many new customers have visited the shop in a show of support, asking how they could help Taylor; Keiller set up a GoFundMe, which has raised more than $4,000 as of Dec. 9.

The company that developed and marketed a guardrail blamed for deaths on the nation’s freeways and here in San Diego confirms it’s the target of a Justice Department inquiry

The Department of Justice and two other federal agencies are investigating a company whose highway guardrails are blamed for a number of deaths.

The X-Lite guardrail was the focus of an NBC 7 Investigates series on highway safety equipment that allegedly caused fatal injuries to the occupants of vehicles that hit those guardrails.

Since 2016, NBC 7 found at least nine people died nationwide after they crashed into the end piece of an X-Lite guardrail.

The guardrails are made by Lindsay Transportation Systems. Hundreds of them were installed along local freeways, mostly on Interstates 5 and 8.

In the company's recent annual report to investors, Lindsay Transportation disclosed it was informed of the investigation by the federal Departments of Justice and Transportation, and the U.S. Attorney’s office in the North District of New York State.

Lindsay Transportation revealed the probe relates to possible problems with the X-Lite guardrail and potential violations of the False Claims Act.

Both the company and the federal agencies declined to provide more information about the probes, but the False Claims Act is used by “whistleblowers” inside a company to report alleged financial or unethical corporate behavior.

Lindsay has repeatedly denied any safety problems with its products, and pointed to federal safety studies it says confirm that the company’s guardrail has “performed consistently with other (guardrails) on U.S. roads and highways.”

But California’s state transportation agency, Caltrans, is not waiting for results of the federal probe.

In March, Caltrans started replacing all X-LITE guardrails installed state-wide at a cost to taxpayers of about $20 million.

A 27-year-old social media influencer was sentenced to federal prison Monday for an armed plot to threaten a man in an effort to obtain a website domain name.

Rossi Lorathio Adams II was found guilty for one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. Adams plotted to intimidate the unnamed owner of a domain name and "hijack" the website, the attorney's office said, NBC News reports.

Adams started a social media brand called "State Snaps" in 2015 while attending Iowa State University, operating on various social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.

"At one time, Adams had over a million followers on his social media sites, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity," the U.S. Attorney's office said.

The San Diego Unified School District is facing two lawsuits in connection to a former special education teacher convicted of sexually abusing an underage student.

The allegations in both suits are damning, a high school student and a fellow teacher say the district knew the teacher was behaving inappropriately with coworkers and students and did nothing.

Former San Diego High School special education teacher Juan Carlos Herrera, 49, pleaded guilty in September to 11 felony counts for sexually abusing an underage student. He sexually abused her “almost daily,” and threatened to cut off her arms and legs if she told anyone, prosecutors said.

Now the student’s family is taking the high school and the district to court.

"San Diego Unified, and specifically San Diego High School, dropped the ball,” said the family’s attorney, Jessica Pride. “They ignored the red flags. There were over a year of red flags, and they could have stopped this abuse from happening to my client."

In the civil complaint, Pride alleges the district ignored credible and disturbing complaints about Herrera from a high school security guard and a fellow teacher.

“I'm angry because I wasn't protected like I should have been,” says Vanessa Montgomery, a teacher at San Diego High School who is now also suing the district.

"They didn't protect me and they didn't protect our students,” says Montgomery. “And because of that look what's happened.”

NBC 7 obtained a copy of an email Montgomery sent to San Diego High’s principal and vice principal last May. In it, Montgomery describes vulgar sexual comments and gestures made by Herrera. In one instance, she says he poked her breast with a toothpick, put it in his mouth and winked at her.

Montgomery says she was terrified to go to work, and often went home in tears.

"What was he going to say to me if I wore a dress?” Montgomery recalls thinking on her morning commute. “What was he going to say to me if I saw him in the hallway? Was he going to touch me again? He made me feel really uncomfortable."

"That's not something anyone should have to experience at work,” Montgomery’s attorney, Andrew Hillier said. “It's just not."

In hindsight, Montgomery’s email was also hauntingly prophetic. She explicitly expressed concerns about Herrera’s interest and alone time with young, female students. The district never responded.

“There's no sign of any sort of internal investigation at all,” Hillier said, and claims the district never interviewed his client, Herrera, coworkers or students.

"Why not? What more did they need to say, ‘Hey this is something we need to look into?’” he said.

The lawyer for the underage student believes Herrera may have abused others.

"Predators don't generally have just one victim,” Pride said. “We think there are other girls out there, other students who were sexually abused by Mr. Herrera who are not willing to come forward at this time. I think some of them probably think that he loves them, or they love him. They’ve been groomed, he has brainwashed them."

Pride is also calling on District Attorney Summer Stephan to open a criminal investigation into school administrators for failing to report internal complaints about Herrera’s behavior with students to CPS or the police.

Herrera is now serving a 10-year prison sentence and a lifetime on the sex offender registry.

In response to a request for an interview, a district spokesperson told NBC 7, “the district does not comment on pending litigation.”

A Spring Valley man was charged with multiple gun-related felonies in a San Diego Superior Courtroom Monday after a graphic video was posted, showing the suspect fire empty assault-style rifles at unknowing pedestrians from a hotel window downtown.

Steve Homoki, 30, was charged with three felony counts of possession of an assault weapon and three counts of child abuse, according to court documents. He pleaded not guilty.

The San Diego Police Department arrested Homoki on Dec. 5, hours after SDPD investigators seized 14 registered firearms, including two assault-style rifles, from his Spring Valley home.

The three possession charges included the following guns: Springfield Arms AR-15, Black AR-15 “Anderson Man,” and CZ Scorpion Folsom’s Stick Rifle, according to court documents.

Days prior, law enforcement received a tip that Homoki had “gone off the deep end” and that “he will open fire on federal agents or police” if confronted.

Homoki’s relationship with guns was apparent in YouTube videos he posted in September under the alias of Stephen Anderson.

The videos were from a stay at the Sofia Hotel in March, according to court documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates.

In the graphic videos, several guns, high-capacity magazines, and hundreds of bullets were strewn across the hotel room floor.

“You drop one mag, you pick up another, right? Then you pick up another... Then you drop it, you drop the gun, pick up another gun,” the man in the video muttered under his breath. “What you do, this is what you do.”

At one point, the suspect ran back to the window overlooking a crowded Front Street and grabbed a half-full bottle of liquor. He unclipped one magazine cartridge and reloaded an empty cartridge into the assault rifle.

In the comments section on one of the YouTube videos, Homoki reportedly wrote, “Everything is fabricated for entertainment and none of these are intended for any audience. This is a private video. Shall not be published online for anyone to view and this is satire and not in any way shape or form to be taken seriously. Should children with toy guns deserve to get shot?”

In a jailhouse interview, Homoki called the videos a miniature art project.

On Monday, prosecutors called it a "fantasy rehearsal of a simulated mass shooting."

To read more about the details concerning the posted videos, click here.

Prosecutor Wendy Patrick confirmed the videos themselves were not illegal; however, a video appeared to show an illegal weapon, which gave authorities probable cause to search Homoki's home.

All six charges referenced Dec. 5 – the day Homoki was arrested.

Court records did not provide details on the three child abuse charges. However, in court Monday, the judge said a child was present with the loaded firearms.

Homoki's defense said he had no previous criminal record.

“This is an example of what happens when the community sees something and said something. This person was instrumental in letting us know what was happening,” said SDPD Sgt. Matthew Botkin.

Botkin stressed the important role that the anonymous tipster played in arresting Homoki, and ensuring the guns were removed.

Homoki appeared in San Diego Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. Monday, marking his first court appearance in the case.

Homoki's bail was set at $1 million.