NBC4 Anchors Emotionally Announce Deaths of Colleagues Live on Air After L.A. Helicopter Crash

NBC4 Los Angeles anchors delivered wrenching news to viewers the evening of Tuesday, September 15, confirming live on air that two of their colleagues had died in the crash of the station's news helicopter.

Aerial reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were killed when NewsChopper 4 went down in the Chatsworth neighborhood shortly before 7 p.m. A person on the ground was also killed, bringing the toll to three.

Anchor Colleen Williams, her voice unsteady, told the audience the station was mourning valued friends and colleagues lost while on assignment.

Williams walked viewers through the unfolding tragedy in real time. She had earlier told the audience the station had lost contact with its helicopter, then returned to confirm the aircraft had gone down.

"We're coming on the air with heavy hearts tonight because we lost valued friends and colleagues," she and co-anchor Carolyn Johnson said, before the broadcast showed a photo of Moreno and Marciniw together in front of the helicopter.

The anchors paused to gather themselves. Williams told viewers the team needed a few minutes to process and regroup, and the station said it was piecing together what had happened as the news came in.

NBC4 and its sister station, Telemundo 52, later issued a joint statement expressing condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those killed.

The crash came as Moreno and Marciniw covered a deadly collision on the ground. Earlier that evening, a Los Angeles Metro bus and an SUV had crashed on Nordhoff Street, killing two people and multiple news helicopters were in the area covering the scene. NewsChopper 4 went down a short distance away, near a self-storage facility in Chatsworth.

The third person killed was on the ground at the time. Authorities identified him as Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was visiting from Guatemala. Two other people were taken to the hospital, and their conditions were not released. Officials have not determined what caused the crash, and an investigation is underway.

Colleagues described Moreno as a bright, energetic presence in the newsroom and the skies above it. Born and raised in Orange County, she graduated from Chapman University with a degree in broadcast journalism and political science, and had been working aboard news helicopters since 2010. Her voice had become a familiar part of the station's aerial coverage.

Those who worked with her remembered her spirit. Morning anchor Lynette Romero called her a light and a spark plug, describing her as small in stature but boundless in heart and enthusiasm, an energy Romero said was contagious. Moreno had covered countless stories from the air, often alongside Marciniw.

Marciniw was remembered as a veteran pilot whose name had become inseparable from the aircraft he flew. He grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974, going on to a long career in the air. Colleagues said that when people thought of NewsChopper 4, they thought of him.

He and Moreno had flown together since 2023, becoming a familiar team on the station's coverage. A fellow helicopter pilot who knew Marciniw for decades said he had been nearing retirement, and coworkers praised his experience, professionalism and steadiness over his years in the job.