The tragedy of ‘Pichi’: He went to LA to buy a car and was killed by a helicopter

Grief over the death of three people in the NBC and Telemundo helicopter crash in Los Angeles traveled over 2,300 miles south to Cuilapa, Guatemala, the impoverished community where victim Edy Fernando Gutiérrez Mejía was born. The 29-year-old had arrived that same day in Chatsworth with the intention of buying a vehicle. He never returned. The helicopter that fell on him was the one from which journalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were reporting on a terrible traffic accident.

The visit of “Pichi,” as he was affectionately called, was going to be quick. He arrived on September 14 and was scheduled to return to Guatemala the next day. His plan was simple: buy a car in California, take it back to his country, sell it there and make a small profit. But his plans were thwarted. Shortly before 7 p.m., Gutiérrez Mejía was in a parking lot in Chatsworth accompanied by his cousins, negotiating the price of the vehicle he had chosen, relatives told Telemundo 52.

During the transaction, the news helicopter identified as NewsChopper4, operated by the company Angel City Air, began to lose altitude. In a matter of seconds, it crashed right onto the parking lot where Pichi stood. The impact caused an explosion and turned Gutiérrez Mejía’s fleeting visit to Los Angeles into a tragedy.

Two other people, also of Guatemalan origin, were injured and discharged from a local hospital, the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on September 17. “The consulate maintains communication with the authorities and has established contact with relatives and one of the survivors to provide assistance and legal guidance as the investigations progress,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The agency added that it will also accompany the family regarding repatriation of the remains, which is being paid for by a crowd-funding campaign with backing from the Guatemalan government.

Gutiérrez Mejía’s relatives are now preparing to take Pichi’s remains back to Cuilapa, a community located 40 miles southeast of Guatemala City, where his parents are waiting for him.

In Los Angeles, the loved ones of Eliana Moreno and George Marciniw are preparing to say their last goodbyes. As a tribute, the news outlet they worked for remembers them as its “team in heaven.”

NewsChopper4’s last video

The incident remains under investigation by federal authorities. The last video recorded from the helicopter is considered key to the reconstruction of the accident.

Moreno and Marciniw were reporting on the collision between a pickup truck and a bus on September 14 when the helicopter slammed violently into a container and several vehicles. Marciniw was a veteran helicopter pilot. Moreno had been reporting from the air, in English and Spanish, for 16 years while operating the helicopter’s camera. Both had specialized in covering traffic news aerially on Los Angeles highways.

Authorities were expected to begin removing the wreckage of the helicopter on September 17. The investigation is being carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which could take more than a year to conclude. The first findings suggest that the engine would have failed shortly before 7 p.m.

“The video recorded while the reporter was conducting the live broadcast is probably the most important evidence we have found so far,” Fabian Salazar, a senior investigator for NTSB, said during a press conference on September 15.

Salazar explained that investigators are looking to gather as much information as possible at the scene of the accident and to interview witnesses. They are also trying to obtain a “high-quality copy” of the recording to send to the agency’s laboratory for detailed analysis.

“In that recording, sounds that coincide with a change in engine speed are clearly heard; tones are also heard that are likely to alert the pilot. That is why it is important to take it to our laboratory, extract the data, and thus obtain concrete evidence,” said the official.

“He was a cheerful person”

Both the Guatemalan Consulate in Los Angeles and the Medical Examiner’s office confirmed the identity of Gutiérrez Mejía. The authorities in Cuilapa lamented his death on their Facebook page and expressed their condolences to the relatives: “We say a prayer for the eternal rest of his soul and we ask God, our Lord, for peace for the entire family at this time.”

In two photographs of Gutiérrez Mejía, he appears smiling: in one he poses in a snowy landscape and in another he holds a trophy on a soccer field. In the image released by the Cuilapa government, he looks more serious, with one hand on his chin and wearing a Boston Red Sox cap.

Pichi’s native community, Cuilapa, is a town of cobblestones and narrow streets, with about 41,000 inhabitants, whose economy depends largely on remittances sent by those who emigrate to the United States. Located in the department of Santa Rosa, it is known as the “Center of the Americas,” a name attributed to its geographical location on the continent.

Those who knew Pichi remember him as an optimistic, helpful young man who was always willing to help. “He was a cheerful person. Someone who was always there for those who needed him. He was always a dynamic, hardworking young man,” said Daniel Castillo, a volunteer firefighter from Cuilapa in an interview with Telemundo. “We woke up with the sad news of his death.”

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