BREAKING NEWS  |  CHATSWORTH

A Night of Loss in Chatsworth: Six Lives Taken in Metro Bus Crash and NBC4 Helicopter Tragedy

An SUV struck a Metro bus at Nordhoff and De Soto on Tuesday evening. Less than two hours later, the news helicopter covering the scene fell from the sky. We grieve with every family tonight.

By Good Shepherd Media  •  Wednesday, September 16, 2026  •  Chatsworth, Los Angeles

CHATSWORTH — Our community is carrying a heavy sorrow this morning. On Tuesday evening, September 15, two separate tragedies unfolded within blocks of each other in Chatsworth, and by the time the night was over, six people had lost their lives.

Before we share what is known, we pause. We pray for every soul lost, for every person lying in a hospital bed tonight, and for the mothers, fathers, spouses, children and friends who received a phone call no one should ever receive. May God hold each of them close.

The bus collision at Nordhoff and De Soto

At about 5:02 p.m., a Metro Line 166 bus was traveling eastbound on Nordhoff Street when an SUV heading south on De Soto Avenue struck it broadside, according to LA Metro. The force of the impact drove the front half of the SUV into the left side of the bus, just feet from a bus stop.

Los Angeles Fire Department crews, more than 60 firefighters in all, arrived to find people trapped inside. Two passengers on the bus died at the scene; fire officials said one of them had been thrown from the bus by the collision. An Urban Search and Rescue team cut the SUV open to free those still inside. Six people were taken to hospitals, two of them in critical condition.

Later in the evening, Metro said the driver of the SUV had also died at the hospital, bringing the toll from the collision to three. Witnesses told reporters the SUV appeared to be moving at a high rate of speed. The Los Angeles Police Department is leading the investigation, and no cause has been determined.

The names of those lost in the collision have not yet been released. We will not speculate. We will simply say that three families lost someone they loved on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon, and we hold them in prayer.

KTLA 5 coverage of the collision at Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue. Viewer discretion is advised.

Then, the helicopter

As the sun went down, news helicopters circled above the crash scene, as they do after any major incident in Los Angeles. Just before 7 p.m., one of them, NewsChopper4, flying for NBC4 and Telemundo 52, went down on the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue, a short distance from the bus collision.

Witnesses said the aircraft did not look right in the air moments before it fell. It came down between two commercial buildings near a self-storage facility and burst into flames, igniting four vehicles and two storage containers. More than 70 firefighters responded and put out the fire. No buildings were damaged.

Three people died: the two crew members aboard the helicopter, and one person who was simply standing in a parking lot below. At least one other person was taken to a hospital.

Later that night, NBC4 identified its two colleagues. Eliana Moreno, the station’s aerial reporter, was known to viewers as “Eli in the Heli.” An Orange County native and Chapman University graduate, she had been flying over Southern California for Angel City Air since 2010. George Marciniw, the pilot, was a Southern California native and a graduate of Burbank High School. The two had flown together since 2023.

Shortly before 9 p.m., NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams confirmed the news on the air, telling viewers the station had lost contact with its crew and needed a few minutes to process what had happened. In a statement, NBC4 and Telemundo 52 said they were deeply saddened and extended condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who died.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with help from the FAA, and an investigator was expected on scene Wednesday morning. The cause of the crash is not known, and it may be many months before it is.

Additional coverage of the helicopter crash on North Mason Avenue. Viewer discretion is advised.

A city in mourning

Mayor Karen Bass called it a very tragic day for Los Angeles and said the Chatsworth community will be grieving for some time. Gov. Gavin Newsom said his heart was with the victims, their families and the entire NBC4 family, and thanked the first responders who worked through the night.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath perhaps said it best: there will be serious questions about what happened, but tonight is not the time for speculation. Tonight is the time to care for people who are hurting.

We agree. The firefighters who pulled strangers from twisted metal, the paramedics, the police officers, the Metro employees and the neighbors who ran toward the smoke instead of away from it deserve our gratitude. The journalists who lost two of their own deserve our compassion. And the families deserve our prayers, not our theories.

What we know, and what we don’t

Casualty figures shifted through the night, as they often do in the first hours of a tragedy. Here is where things stand as of Wednesday morning:

• Bus collision, about 5:02 p.m., Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue: three dead (two bus passengers and the SUV driver), six hospitalized. Victims’ names not yet released. LAPD investigating.
• Helicopter crash, just before 7 p.m., 9100 block of North Mason Avenue: three dead (reporter Eliana Moreno, pilot George Marciniw, and one person on the ground), at least one hospitalized. NTSB investigating.
• No cause has been determined in either incident. No arrests have been made.
• Anyone with information about the bus collision is asked to call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-222-TIPS.

Good Shepherd Media will update this story as officials release more information, including the names of the victims once their families have been notified, and details of any vigils or memorials.

Heavenly Father,

We come to You tonight with heavy hearts and few words. Six of our neighbors left home on Tuesday and did not come back. We do not understand it, and we will not pretend to. So we simply bring them to You.

Receive into Your arms the two who died on that bus, and the driver who died in the hospital hours later. We do not yet know their names, but You have known them since before they were born. Let them rest in Your peace.

Receive Eliana and George, who spent their days above this city telling its stories, and who died doing that work. Receive the stranger in the parking lot who was only going about an ordinary evening. Hold them all close.

Be near to the families tonight. To the mother waiting by a phone, the husband sitting in an empty kitchen, the children who will wake up tomorrow and remember. Sit with them in the silence. When the casseroles stop coming and the cameras leave, stay.

Heal the injured. Steady the hands of the doctors and nurses. Give rest to the firefighters who cut through steel to reach the trapped, and to the officers and paramedics who saw things tonight they will carry for a long time. Comfort the newsroom that lost two of its own and still had to go on the air.

Grant wisdom to the investigators, patience to the grieving, and grace to a community that wants answers but needs, first, to mourn.

And Lord, remind us that You are close to the brokenhearted. That no life is lost to You. That the last word over Chatsworth tonight is not the sound of the crash, but the promise that You will wipe every tear from every eye.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who wept at a grave and then called His friend out of it.

Amen.

Sources: LA Metro, Los Angeles Fire Department, NBC4 Los Angeles / Telemundo 52, KTLA, ABC7, CBS Los Angeles, FOX 11, the Associated Press and the National Transportation Safety Board. Information current as of the morning of September 16, 2026.