A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter flew over Newport Beach yesterday at an unusually low altitude and high rate of speed rattling rooftops as it passed over the city. The low flight path of the aircraft, its speed and the noise it generated gave residents a brief startling experience.
The flight was witnessed by this reporter at just after 2:15PM-PST Monday afternoon. The helicopter flew low and fast over the Newport Heights section of the city near Newport Harbor High School and headed out to sea.
The U.S. Marine Corps air command based at Miramar Marine Air Station in San Diego was contacted by Newport Beach Now (NBN), but a Marine Corps spokesman was unable to confirm the identity or purpose of the military flight prior to publication of this story.
The helicopter is believed to be a U.S. Marine Corps HU-1 "Venom" type aircraft as seen in the photo above.
The helicopter's flight was confirmed to NBN yesterday by Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford, who said "At 2:12 pm, a military helicopter did a low approach at John Wayne and then asked permission to fly southwest toward the beach, which is not an unusual request"
FAA spokesman Lunsford told NBN "according to radar, the aircraft was at an altitude of roughly 500 feet over NB, descending to about 200 feet at the beach. It dropped below radar while southbound over the water."
According to Lunsford, the military call sign of the aircraft was "Viper 88". A call sign is what aircraft use to identify themselves when in contact with air traffic controllers on the ground.
Newport Beach Police and the City's spokesperson Tara Finnigan were unable to confirm any official resident complaints or reports were received by local authorities about the flight.
In March of last year, a similar fly-by of military F-18 fighter jets over Newport caused a stir when residents were startled by the low-flying aircraft. The incident and related story can be seen here.
In response to last year's incident the city sought to receive pre-notification of any military fly-overs, but were rebuffed by military and FAA officials.
** UPDATE ** 2:50P - PST
U.S. Marine Corps spokesman 1stLt Chad Hill confirmed to NBN the flight and its purpose: "The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing helicopter, stationed aboard Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, was conducting a training flight near John Wayne Airport. The aircraft was within an FAA-approved flight profile and under positive control of FAA air traffic controllers."
Mexican 'Panga' boat grounded at Crystal Cove State Beach (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
By Eric Longabardi
A small Mexican fishing boat known as a "panga" came ashore in the early morning hours yesterday at Crystal Cove State Beach. The beach is at the southern most tip of Newport Beach. On board the boat were 24 people according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Here is the U.S. border patrol's media press release in regards to this specific incident in its entirely and unedited. The landing by sea was one of two incidents the U.S. Border Patrol was involved with yesterday.
United States Customs and Border Protection (Press Release)
Now forgive me for my 'cultural insensitivity' and some might even say outright racism, (only biased ethnic-racist zealots would say that) but when a small fishing boat from Mexico (or anywhere else) comes ashore in the United States illegally with nothing but people and according to the U.S. law enforcement agency that polices the U.S./Mexican border the people on board are trying to enter the United States illegally, I for one am going to call them "illegal aliens". Keep in mind also that this is the Obama administration setting the word rules here for this U.S. agency. The current administration is not exactly known for their hard-line anti-political correctness views!
This boat load of "illegal aliens" came ashore in an attempted smuggling operation. Of course that's only "according to" the U.S. Border Patrol. Some might say these people have not been convicted of any crime (yet) here in the U.S. and therefore are entitled to all due process under the law--right? I think not. Let me tell you why.
Of course if it's shown later that this boat load of people were simply out for a fun day of deep-sea fishing or maybe a really low-cost panga-crusie-ship vacation of sorts, in a boat completely unseaworthy for the trip over 90 nautical miles north of Mexican waters -- then of course, it would be an outrage that these particular hispanics were unfairly labeled "illegal aliens". If it turns out they were wrongly arrested they should sue the pants off everybody they can find, most especially the U.S. Government!
I doubt that is ever going to happen. Actually I'm sure that it never will.
Now if you read the local L.A. Times community newspaper story about this incident from 'The Daily Pilot' you would have to have had figured out for yourself that the boat was full of "illegal aliens" attempting to illegally enter the United States. To get that part of the story you would have to read the story until you reached the fourth paragraph. You'll probably start to get the idea at that point.
According to the Daily Pilot headline and lead paragraph, the only reason this beach landing was 'news' was because a "Boat with 24 aboard (was) seized near Crystal Cove". To put it bluntly this is worst kind of "politically correct" sanitized news that now permeates most of what was once called credible journalism.
I asked the Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego a simple question about this case. I didn't want to seem insensitive to anyone. "How is is determined that the people on the boat that landed at Crystal Cove yesterday had entered the US illegally? He told me a simple and accurate answer. "When you enter from another country you are required to present yourself to a Customs and Border Protection Officer. Also he said, "most simply admit being in the country illegally". He also told me the entry rules apply to anyone, even U.S citizens.
The only true reason this story was "news" was because a boat full of illegal aliens were attempting to enter the United States and landed on a beach in Orange County, especially in well-to-do Newport Beach. This kind of sea borne smuggling is nothing new along the California coastline. Actually it's a growing problem in recent years.
This wasn't the first time this sort of thing has happened at Crystal Cove either. Earlier this year another boat load of people, (I'm sorry --"passengers") were also arrested and over a thousand pounds of pot was seized. In 2011 another 15 "passengers" were unexpectedly tossed into the ocean when their panga cruise ship flipped in the surf. All of them were ok but were also arrested for entering the United States illegally.
Take special note in the video. Two of the three crew members searching for and attempting to arrest illegal aliens being smuggled into the U.S. are hispanic. One crew member is white. Are these hard working law enforcement officers racially insensitive? I think such a notion is a farce.
I'm also guessing the politically correct L.A. Times would probably omit these facts and most likely run a headline that said something like this if they had published this story ...
"Late night panga-boaters being tracked and watched by new high-tech boat near Newport Beach" Why? Who cares right! We don't want to be racial insensitive to any ethnic group so let's omit relevant facts in our story! I believe the newly ordered politically correct (and inaccurate) L.A. Times style guidelines (see story) are a disgrace to honest accurate journalism. I'm not politically correct or a racist, I'm just an honest accurate reporter. How culturally insensitive that can be these days I know!
The Enterprise Report has learned that the gunman involved in the shooting last night in Newport Beach, CA at the Fashion Island shopping center had a permit to carry a weapon and was a licensed state security guard/patrol person.
Mark Gurrola, 42 seen above in his booking photo provided by the Orange County Sheriff's Department was also licensed to carry a police baton records indicate.
Gurrola was first issued the permit to carry a weapon in 1994 according to state records. The permit was "cancelled" for unknown reasons.
Why Gurrola opened fire last night is still under investigation by authorities. For Newport Beach Now's previous reporting on this story click here
A lone gunman opened fire in the parking lot of an upscale Newport Beach, California shopping center just after 4:30PM Saturday. According to Newport Beach police over 50 rounds were fired from a small caliber handgun before police officers, already on patrol at the shopping center were able to locate and take the suspect into custody without further incident.
According to Newport Beach Deputy Police Chief David Mcgill, the suspected shooter, Marcos Sarinana Gurrola, 42 did not resist and was not armed when officers approached him after being alerted to shots being fired in a parking lot adjecent to a Macy's Deparment Store. Large numbers of holiday shoppers were at the location and numerous calls to 911 flooded in from the public as the incident unfolded.
A video, posted on YouTube caught shooting as it happened. The poster claims he was taking packages to his car in the parking lot when he heard gunshots and turned on his cellphone and began recording.
The poster of the video Patrick Wyrick, of Lake Forest, CA, provided this detailed eyewitness account of what he said he saw happened as his camera captured the sounds and a glimpse of the shooter:
"I was taking packages out to the car when I heard a bunch of shots. I wasn't sure they were real or not. Then a heard another set of shots and then another. I couldn't see who was shooting, but I started to take video in the direction the shots came from while standing behind the car you see in the foreground. My video catches the last two clips he shot and I could finally see him when he shot off the last clip. You can barely make the shooter out. He is just beneath the little redish triangle immediately left of the two palm trees in the center of the picture.
Before I left, I saw the him on the ground and surrounded by police, but my daughter was very upset so I left to pick them up and get out of the area.
My wife and daughter were at an ice cream shop in the mall when the shooting happened. They ended up running and screaming with everyone toward the opposite side of the mall."
As police responded to the shooter, people both in the parking lot and inside the adjacent Macy's store and throughout the shopping center sought to escape and fled as confusion and fear spread.
The Enterprise Report spoke to a woman working at a small kiosk selling hats just outside an extrance to the Macy's store about what she witnessed happen as people rushed from the store trying to get away from where the shooting was coming from.
The woman, "Sophia", who didn't want her full name used spoke to to The Enterprise Report on tape exclusively. Listen to her audio interview as she describes what happend in the moments as the incident unfolded. She says she ended up running away from the store and finding shelter at another store, where employees locked the doors trying to shield freightened shoppers from any potential threat. The woman also says she spoke directly to a woman who came face to face with the alledged shooter. Take a listen to her chilling account:
Newport Beach pollce spokesman Kathy Lowe said Gurrola is currently being held on assault with a deadly weapon charges. Other charges may be pending. Gurrola was booked into the Orange County Men's Central Jail. His bail is set at 250,000 according to jail information reviewed for this report.
