Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Maria Onore Bryant were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Sunday.
We’re wrapping up our live coverage, but if you’re looking for more on Bryant’s life and career, you can…
People flying in and out of LAX may notice this tribute to Kobe Byrant on the side of the Los Angeles Times headquarters.
The newspaper’s publisher Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who has a stake in the Lakers, shared a series of photos of the headquarters building lit up with Bryant’s silhouette tonight.
Football fans erupted in a chant at the Super Bowl Opening Night at Marlins Park during a moment of silence for NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
The crowd chanted “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!”
Watch the moment:
An emergency ordinance has been issued for the crash site of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a news conference today.
It is now a misdemeanor for anyone to unlawfully access the site of the helicopter crash. Deputies are patrolling the rugged terrain on horseback, Villanueva said.
Road closures and flight restrictions still remain in effect, he said. Only people who have proper identification and can prove they are a resident will be allowed to enter.
Villanueva also said that they are still waiting on the coroner to make an identification.
“Be patient, it’s going to take a while,” he said. Once notifications are made to the next of kin, media will be notified. The coroner is still recovering human remains from the crash site, Villanueva said.
The pilot of the helicopter killed in the crash was experienced, according to Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The pilot was identified as Ara Zobayan, according to the pilot’s neighbor and a former colleague at Island Express helicopter company. Zobayan was among the victims of the crash that killed eight others, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
He had a commercial certificate and 8,200 hours of flight time as of July 2019, Homendy said at a news conference today. He was also a certified flight instructor.
Zobayan had been working with Island Express, the helicopter company, for a number of years, she said.
The NTSB is looking at pilot records, weather information, ATC communication, and wreckage as part of the investigation.
There was no black box — a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder — onboard the helicopter that carried NBA legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, said Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
According to Homendy, it is not a requirement. There was an iPad, however, which was recovered at the crash site. It is used by the pilot for flight plans and weather briefings, she told reporters today at a news conference. The NTSB will be looking at other avionics to see what information can be gathered.
The impact crater is 1,085 feet above sea level, Homendy said as she described the debris field as being about 500 to 600 feet.
When asked about any chance for survival, Homendy responded by saying, “It was a pretty devastating accident scene.”
“There is an impact area on one of the hills and the piece of the tail is down the hill, on the left side of the hill, fuselage is on the other side of the hill, and the main rotor is about a 100 yards beyond that,” she said as she described the scene.
The NTSB will be on scene for about five days to collect perishable evidence and continue to document the scene. They will not determine the cause on scene, but Homendy said she is confident they’ll determine the cause of the accident.
The FBI is assisting the National Transportation Safety Board to collect evidence from the wreckage of the crash, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy told reporters today.
“They are essentially a force multiplier for the NTSB,” she said. “There is no criminal portion of this investigation,” she said.
Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency is looking for photographs showing the weather at the time of the helicopter crash.
She urged the public to send any photos to the NTSB.
Investigators were also at the scene today and used drones to begin mapping the wreckage, Homendy said.
“It was a pretty devastating accident scene,” she said.
The Empire State Building is lit in purple and gold in tribute to Kobe Bryant tonight, according to the building’s official Twitter account.
According to the Empire State Building’s Twitter account, “Our lights will shine in purple and gold this evening as we pay tribute to basketball legend Kobe Bryant, an inspiration to millions across the globe who was taken too soon.”
The Los Angeles Lakers gave thanks for “the tremendous outpouring of support and condolences” in the team’s first statement since the death of Kobe Bryant.
The team also confirmed that its game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday was postponed.
The NBA’s Chief Communications Officer, Michael Bass, tells CNN that the last time the league canceled a game for a tragic event was after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
The Indiana Pacers at Boston Celtics were scheduled to play on April 16, the day after the bombing.
The NBA announced today that Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game versus the Los Angeles Clippers has been postponed.
“The decision was made out of respect for the Lakers organization, which is deeply grieving the tragic loss of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people in a helicopter crash on Sunday,” the league wrote in a statement.
Remember: Tuesday’s postponed Lakers game has not been canceled but is set to be rescheduled.
The National Basketball Association has announced that Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game versus the Los Angeles Clippers has been postponed.
Read the full statement:
The artist Muck Rock painted a mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who was often called Gigi, in Los Angeles following the deadly helicopter crash.
The mural shows the father-daughter duo together, with the words “Kobe & Gigi forever daddy’s girl” painted next to it.
Pilot Kurt Deetz, a former colleague of the helicopter pilot killed in the crash, took a photograph of the aircraft in 2016.
The helicopter crashed Sunday on a hillside in Calabasas, California, killing nine people, including Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
Payton Chester and her mother Sarah Chester, passengers on Kobe Bryant’s helicopter yesterday, were killed in the crash.
Cathy Chester, Payton’s grandmother and Sarah’s mother-in-law, posted this undated photograph of them on Facebook.
Harbor Day School, the private school in Corona del Mar that Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna attended, remembered the 13-year-old as a “vital part” of the school’s community.
Harbor View girls’ basketball coach Christina Mauser also died in the Sunday crash. The school said she “put her heart and soul into coaching and teaching physical education.”
Former colleagues of Ara Zobayan, the pilot in the deadly helicopter crash, are remembering him today.
Kurt Deetz recognized Zobayan’s voice right away when he heard the ATC tower recording. The had a jovial working relationship.
Zobayan was outspoken, he said, a presence with a distinctive voice and big personality. Deetz declined to comment on Zobayan’s experience flying but said he trusted him enough to fly with him.
Another fellow pilot, Jared Yochim, told CNN that he too recognized Zobayan’s voice on the recordings. “There’s a reason that people wanted to fly with him,” Yochim said. “He was just a cool, calm guy.”
Yochim said the news of the pilot’s death has shaken a small, tight-knit community of helicopter pilots. He and Deetz cautioned against arm-chair speculation about what may have happened.
Neighbors of Ara Zobayan, the pilot who was killed in yesterday’s helicopter crash, said he was friendly — but exacting.
Robert Sapia told CNN that Zobayan would often point out details at the Huntington Beach condominium complex that needed tended, such as fallen palm fronds.
Another neighbor, Angie LaPorte, said she saw him every day at the mailbox.
LaPorte said she learned of his death when she stepped outside of her condo unit early Monday morning.
“I heard from the landscape guys,” she said. “They all loved him.”
Radio stations in Southern California went silent at lunchtime to honor Kobe Bryant, at the request of the Southern California Broadcasters Association.
Beginning at noon local time, the moment of silence lasted one minute, eight seconds — the timing chosen because Bryant wore jersey No. 8 for the first part of his career before changing to No. 24.
A slight static sound could be heard on news radio station KNX during the moment of silence, which aired audio from the crash site.
Three victims have been recovered from the helicopter crash site that killed nine, including NBA legend Kobe Bryant, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
Investigators from the coroner’s office Special Operations Response Team were able to recover the three bodies Sunday night before darkness and safety concerns suspended the search, according to a statement.
All three have been taken to the coroner’s Forensic Science Center where they will be examined and positively identified.
Investigators will continue their recovery efforts today.
