NBC4 Los Angeles anchor and general assignment reporter Robert Kovacik was sent into the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, to cover a fiery crash. By the end of the night, the veteran newsman was reporting the deaths of his own colleagues — and grieving them in front of the camera.
The story he had been working was a deadly traffic collision in Chatsworth. Shortly before 7 p.m., roughly 1.5 miles away, a helicopter providing aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 came down and burst into flames. Three people were killed: reporter Eliana Moreno, 38; pilot George Marciniw; and a pedestrian on the ground, Edy Gutierrez Mejia, 29. Two hours earlier, the bus crash had claimed Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31.
A fourth person was taken to a hospital after the helicopter went down, the Los Angeles Fire Department said, as of September 16.
Police have since arrested a motorist on murder charges in the bus collision. Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, was arrested on the night of Tuesday, September 15 and is being held in a Los Angeles jail with bail set at $4 million, police said on Wednesday, September 16. Rios drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy road, ran a red light and struck a vehicle before hitting the bus, police said; one passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected. The collision killed at least two people and injured six others. The case is being forwarded to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file those charges or pursue different ones.
Rios’ mother, Cindy Rios, said she was shocked and saddened by the string of events. She had not spoken to Bailee Lynn since the arrest, she said, and police had not contacted her.
A Reporter Learns the News on Air
Black smoke caught Kovacik’s eye while he was working the bus collision, and he headed toward it. No one yet knew which station the aircraft belonged to when he delivered his first live report.
“I just saw a colleague of mine from ABC in tears and concern. We don’t know where the chopper is from. We don’t know if it even is a chopper. We don’t know if it is a news chopper,” Kovacik said.
Turning later to the anchors in the studio, he said: “You think about it ladies, as we deal with this day of dueling tragedies here in Chatsworth, we were just getting ready to come on air for the NBC 4 news at 7:00 tonight and we were there.”
He went on: “Colleen and Carolyn, we are surrounded by this community … members of the media and colleagues from across Southern California, as well as the LAFD and the LAPD and members of the city all coming together tonight.”
Glassy-eyed, he closed the live shot: “In Chatsworth, I’m Robert Kovacik. Let’s go back to you.”
Footage from the scene caught him wiping tears away, then sitting in a police car with an officer a short distance from the wreck. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass hugged him there, and fire officials, other politicians and fellow journalists embraced him as well. Kovacik has reported and anchored at the station for more than two decades, and he is a past president of the Los Angeles Press Club.
Two Hours Without Their Crew
For two hours, NBC4 anchors and reporters kept broadcasting while telling viewers the station had lost contact with its own crew. At 9 p.m., anchors Colleen Williams and Carolyn Johnson confirmed that the aircraft down in Chatsworth was NewsChopper4. “We are coming on the air with heavy hearts tonight because we lost valued friends and colleagues … while on assignment tonight,” Williams said, her voice unsteady. “We are going to take a couple of minutes to think about that, process it.” The broadcast then ended, and coverage resumed about 9:40 p.m.
In a joint statement, the stations said: “We are deeply saddened to share that a helicopter providing aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in a fatal accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.” They added: “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those who lost their lives.”
Remembering the NewsChopper4 Crew
An Orange County native, Moreno earned a degree in broadcast journalism and political science from Chapman University in 2010 and signed on with the aerial production company Angel City Air the same year. Several Southern California outlets carried her reporting, and viewers came to know her voice from NBC4 and Telemundo 52 aerial coverage. Her engagement was less than a year old.
Marciniw was raised in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974. He flew for decades, working later as a flight instructor. He and Moreno had been a team since 2023, logging hundreds of hours in the air together.
Gutierrez Mejia, the pedestrian killed on the ground, was from Guatemala, that country’s consulate confirmed, as of September 17.
Lynette Romero, co-anchor of NBC4’s morning newscast, talked about the pair on “TODAY” the next morning. “They were both doing what they loved so much, and for me, that’s comfort in knowing how happy they were,” Romero said. “They loved breaking news, and they loved being in NewsChopper4.”
Family, friends and public officials gathered on Thursday, September 17, at St. John Eudes Parish in Chatsworth. A choir sang, and portraits of all five victims stood among the flowers and candles. “He was one in a million,” said Autumn Raiff, Weida’s partner. “He deserved so much better. We were planning so much for our lives.”
What Investigators Know So Far
The cause has not been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration. Investigator-in-charge Fabian Salazar started the on-scene examination of the Eurocopter AS350 B2 on September 16. No flight data recorder was aboard, so the helicopter’s streaming video — which Salazar called probably the most important piece of evidence recovered so far — goes to the agency’s recorder laboratory for sound spectrum analysis. A preliminary report is expected in about 30 days.
In the seconds before impact, the stream captured engine noise and then a warning horn, with Moreno heard saying “uh-oh” and then “You can’t pull up?” Zoey Tur, a veteran Los Angeles news helicopter pilot, read the recording as an engine winding down, followed by the horn that warns of low rotor RPM. Investigators have not stated a cause.