Sunday morning, January our Zabayan was piloting a private helicopter with Kobe Bryant, Bryant's daughter and their friends to a basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, California. Along the way, he's a buying, encountered fog and was in constant contact with air traffic controllers. Everything seemed normal until to echo ACTRA you're still at level for following radio silence two Echo actrascount. I'm Steve Gregory in Los Angeles and this is the death and life of Kobe Bryant. Helicopter crashed into a mountain. We heard it and now I'm looking at the flames Malibu Canyon and Agora Road on the Ari Juan Supermarket. We can see it. I'm at four two three five Lost Virgins Road. I just towed a helicopter door re me approximately from Loss Hills Road at went over my head. It's quick and clouds and then I just heard a pop and it immediately stopped. Yes, that was just clarifying where that plane went down. It's right behind the loss Or Metropolitan Water District, Los Virginus Metropolitan Water District, laid behind the building. The flames have gone out. I can just see smoked down barely anything last Virginism Mahad Yes, okay, yeah it's not it's not maholl And. It's too far south, So what's a better locations. I can tell my units behind the Corporate Water District building about a quarter of a mile up in the hills. Okay, I can see the flames still. By now, fire and rescue crews have arrived on scene and some actually had to be airlifted to the crash site. Captain Tony and Brenda was a public information officer with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and met reporters down at the bottom of the hill who had been sent there to the scene, not knowing at the time who was on board. Still early on in this incident, we received a call just before ten am this morning l a County Fire dispatch of an aircraft down here in uh the Malibu area, right off the Lost Virgins essentially Calabasas, right off the Lost Virgines Road here and apparently some folks were out here mountain bike in this morning and saw an aircraft in distress that went down into the hillside. Um there. This was a helicopter it's been confirmed that it was in S seventy six so Korsky helicopter and unfortunately there were no survivors. Um Right now, we're in the very early phase of this. We still have some fire activity on the hill, so La County Fire Department units are are doing a progressive hoseley right now to get water up. The aircraft is down pretty far from the old so we're having to put several hundred feet of hose in to get up there to cool down the scene. And right now we're waiting for the arrival and TSB investigators. There's not much more to add right now. We're still in the very early phase of this. We just know that it's multiple fatalities and there were no survivors. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex v In a WAVA remembers getting the call. I got a phone call from a EID. I was in uh I believe uptown wire and he said, hey, there's been a helicopter crash in in the Lost Hills area, Calabasas, which is not unusual and of itself, because it happens every few months. There's always a crash with a fatality too. He said, no this is I got a lot more of his nine and one of them maybe Kobe every calibrator right there, realizing, oh boy, so made a B line home, got changed out and we made a bee line over to Lost Hills station. Knowing what that entailed, the onslaught of the media, and of course as as we're driving over there, we're asking all the impertinent questions. Make sure that all the operational things that happened. They set up a perimeter. Uh, they got a containment are set up. They have people that are assisting with actually going to the site to see if there are any survivors and to render aid because we typically we're going to get there before fired us on almost every scene. And uh then fire. It was so remote that fire had to be flown in to access it. I think it took our guys almost forty five minutes to hack their way to the point of it because there was no clear trail that they knew of at the time because they're going on visual, so they huffed it on foot to get there. For those involved, there was one of those events that they were never gonna forget. I was in the newsroom that morning. I was filling in as an anchor for a coworker, and as I was writing my newscast, I noticed an alert pop up on our news wire service, Kobe Bryant dyings in helicopter crash. I paused for a moment to let that sink in. I thought it was a hoax. I went down the hall to our sports affili to ask their staff, but they hadn't heard anything yet. I decided to call a source with the l A County Sheriff's Department, who actually confirmed it was Kobe. And when I saw the alert pop up again, it also added the source of the information to TMZ Sports and we'll explore that angle in a future episode. It was time to break into our regular programming kf I am sixty Breaking News. I'm Steve Gregory in the KFI news center. This is breaking news coming from the KMFI news room. We are being told that Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. There was a helicopter crash early this morning around am. The only County Sheriff's Department says the helicopter is a Sikorski and it was registered to the f A A as a private helicopter to Kobe Bryant. We're told that others on board were also killed, not including Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's wife. Again from the KFI new Center, we're just being told moments ago it's been confirmed that Basketball let and Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash. We'll have more at the top of the hour on kf I Am six forty. More stimulating talk. Now, back to more stimulating talk on kf I Am six. Behind the scenes, I'm calling my news director and program director, and after a brief discussion, it was decided our station would go into what we call wall to all coverage. That's when we blow out commercials and bringing our talk show host to actually anchor live coverage. The other story we've been focused on that day was about a strange flu like virus that had been discovered in Wuhan, China, and whether or not it was a danger to southern California. I did have an opportunity to sit down exclusively with Eli County Sheriff v and Wave to ask him a lot of questions about that day. As he looks back, one of them was when he thought it was time to talk with the media and why the crash had occurred. We had a potential up to nine victims that we could not confirm the identity of any individual victim, and so everyone else ran with a story that was COVID because somebody got ahold. I think through TMZ that they already put together. They had the manifest of the flight and they had all the names, but we weren't going to confirm anyone until we got that from the corner. So within a few hours of the accident, the sheriff and Elly County's fire chief had their first press briefing in front of the Sheriff's departments. Lost Hills Substation in Calabasas. Personnel from Las Hils Sheriff's states and responded to the scene of the crash site and assisted the fire department, and we've established a containment area. And now our Aero Bureau has a handle on traffic aircraft accidents. However, when there's a fatality then it switches to the National Transportation Safety Bureau the NTS, and the Federal Aviation Administration the f A. A f A is already unseen and assisting. We're waiting the rival of the Corners Office to assist in the recovery of the remains. As the chief indicated there were no survivors. We have a manifest that indicates that there was nine people on board the aircraft, the pilot plus eight individuals. Uh, there is wine speculation and whose identities are. However, it is being entirely inappropriate right now to identify anyone by name until the Corner has made the identification through their very deliberative profits and they made notifications and next of kin, and it would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one of those parents that you learn about it from TMZ. That is just wholly inappropriate. So we're not going to be going there, and we're gonna wait till the Corner does their job, and we're assisting the families of those who believe there have been impacted. And it's a it's a it's a tough process, and our hope goes out to all of the members they were on board, all the family of everyone who was on board this aircraft, and uh, God bless their souls. So at this point in time, we have nothing that we can add until the Corner does her job. And we'll be making those notifications. When we have the information and we know the next of kin have been notified, then we can release the information publicly that you'll be notified in subsequent announcement. This was only supposed to be a briefing. Neither the chief nor the sheriff would answer questions, but that doesn't stop reporters from thrown out a few actually of nine bodies there at the scene. That is that is our belief. Yes, back at the Campfire radio station, we were in full swing with wall to wall coverage. Feel absolutely horrible is and and probably no fault of his own. I'm sure he was being begged for that clearance, but whoever gave him the clearance at the Burbank airport. Absolutely we're hearing more about who else was on board that plane, and according to a Calabasas city official, they have confirmed to NBC that there was a teammate on her basketball team also on board, and we're hearing that Orange Coast College baseball coach John Alto Belly was also on board. This has been confirmed by Orange Coast College John Alto Bell. So it seems maybe he and and and a daughter. Maybe that was a teammate of GS was also on board that helicopter. Here's Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his emotional response to the losing a friend of his, Kobe Bryant. It's very difficult for me to put in words how I feel about the loss of Kobe Bryant as a young boy. News conferences is starting here, so we'll play that for you. Adam Silver has released a statement saying that the NBA family is devastated by the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna for twenty seasons. He says, Kobe showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with an absolute devotion to winning. He was one of the most extraordinary players in the history of our game, with accomplishments that are legendary. Coming up, the NBA catches word of the tragedy as the death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. Yah sixteen teams in the NBA were scheduled to play that day, and they all paid tribute in their own very unique ways, including the game between the Raptors and the spur They have decided that whoever wins the tip, and in this case Toronto. They are going to let the shot clock run out because of the number twenty four to honor Cope cry The Clippers were also scheduled to play the coach at the time, Doc Rivers, was stopped by some reporters just before the games. H M, you know, I don't know, uh, you know, Uh, I just don't have a lot to say. The news is just devastating to everybody who knew him, who knows him in a long time, and uh, you know, he just he meant He means a lot to me obviously. Um, you know, he was such a great opponent. Yeah, this is this is a tough one. I don't uh, we have to go play. Uh, I mean, the news is just devastating for for Vanessa and his and his family, and um, there's just so many people he touched, you know. Um, and you know it's looking at my young players and seeing how emotional they are, uh you know, and uh it just tells you how far has reached us. So um, and this is just shocking news for all of us. And sorry, I don't have a lot to say. I just can't have to go talk to a team before a game and tell him to play again. We're talking exclusively with l A County Sheriff alex Via Nueva as he looks back on the day of the accident. I asked him why it was important to have a second briefing that night, especially since there was no new information. Well, there's some things that are just straight logistical practical that we needed. We need to discourage people from going there because they had flooded all the streets, The lookie lows were out in force. We had one fool who actually in the middle of the night tried to you know, hike through the brush to get to the crash site. So we had to have twenty four hour security on horseback. We had departs on horseback and on a t V s patrolling the perimeter. By now it's nightfall in the l A County Sheriff and other officials have gathered for a second briefing and press conference. Good evening, everyone. Purpose of of tonight's press up day is to give you an idea of what's gonna be the next steps of this uh, this process, this investigation is going to be and everyone's role, as you can imagine, this is gonna be very extensive process. It's gonna take not just days, but weeks for us to get to recover from this. And as the other count of Shriffs Department, we're working with our federal partners, which is NTSB and the f a A in a system during the course of this investigation, and the f A is already unseen and they've provided very invaluable assistance. They've secured a five mile of flight restriction for the area of the crash site and also five thousand foot ceiling over it, so that is a great help in securing the crash site. As you may already heard from the NTSP, they're already in route to our location to initiate the investigation. We want to thank our partners in the Early County Fire Department for their timely response putting out the fire and secure in the area. And right now it's uh as you can imagine, it's all logistical nightmare in a sense because the crash site itself is not easily accessible. However, we're now faced with I guess well wishers and people morning who have descended on the area, on the residential community and even the crash site itself, and we have to reiterate it is off limits to everybody. Except the first responders and investigators. So we now have personnel deployed to get people away from there, and they cannot access to crash site. It is in very rough terrain, very dangerous even in daylight, much less in the middle of the night, So we just want to people stay away. The location itself is in a residential community or adjacent to residential community, and there are no businesses, and we want to have the roads free for first responders and for investigators. If you do not have an identification establishes you as a local resident, you will not be permitted access to the area, and there are road closures in effect right now. So now I want to turn it over to a to UH. Dr Lucas, good evening. My name is Dr Jonathan Lucas. I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the County of Los Angeles UM. Today our department had multiple members of our Special Operations Response Team that we're on site. Um are recovery efforts began today, but as the Sheriff UH mentioned, given the terrain and the condition of the site, UH we expect that this will probably take at least a couple, if not a few days to complete the recovery Our priority is completing the recovery as quickly as possible, but but but safely, UH and thoroughly and UM and doing that to make sure our staff are, like I said, are safe. UM. Our next priority after recovery is identification and notification of the families, all of all of which will do as soon as we possibly can. I also want to emphasize that we'll be doing our work thoroughly, quickly, and with the utmost compassion. So again, we really we offer our condolences to the families at this point, and I just want to reassure everybody we're doing everything we can to confirm identifications and give closure to the families involved. Thank you. Coming up. A sportscaster and longtime friend of Kobe's is in shock as the death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. Y Vic the Brick Jacobs is a fixture on l A Radio. He's been a sportscaster for decades and is a regular on kl A C A M. During our wald Wall coverage on KFI, we were able to get him to come on. It wasn't easy, but Vic fought back tears as he looked back on his relationship with Kobe. This is such a living nightmare for all of us, For new Kobe, It's touched our lives, a transcendent spirit, a profound essence. I'm not just an insanely great basketball player, but one who, at forty years old, was this beginning to blossom. I think, Shannon, you were talking about that earlier is so true. He had so much to give, you know, he gave all he could on the court. Every possession he bowled like it was his last possession of his freaking life. That's how he played the game. He was taped up like a mummy by Gary VD on hundreds of occasions, and I'd see him in the lake, a locker room. I'd see in the training room with VD, and he was in such pain. But he knew, he knew people wanted to see him and see his lust for hoop. And he has such an incredible lust and desire for winning. You know. Thus, you know he evolved into the Mamba. But I knew Colbe when he was seventeen, twenty four years ago, when he first came to town from Philadelphia rookie on the Lakers. He was going to play summer ball in Long Beach at the pyramid. I called this hotel room, and I said, Colby, this is vic the brick looked to come and see you and say hi, and the cities are excited. And he said, sure, come on down. They came to his hotel. We're eating French fries together in his room, and he was iced up to his hip. Even at seventeen. He was preserving his body like like I had never seen before. He had such he was so in tune, you know, with with the whole you know, mind, body and soul of Hoop. But on the court, unparalleled love of the game, Harold Old desire to win, unparalleled love of the city of Los Angeles, of the world. You know. He was the first to go to China to open up that bridge of harmony through hope. No no, no one had the you know, the wisdom and really the division of Kobe Bryant. Everyone just saw him. He was he was a hardass. So you can't talk to this guy. But my my experience with Kobe was one of a young poet at seventeen. And when I first saw him at Long Beach, I'll tell room, I said, I'm in the presence of a poet. I knew I knew he was, you know, beyond basketball. He was. He was so strong, he was he had this iron will about him, this indomitable spirit I knew would transcend the game. And it has. I mean, he's done so much for basketball. But also you know when he retired a few years ago and who could get his last game when he dropped sixty on Utah, I mean, come on, I can barely move and said he was in pain. It was injured. He's still He knew the fans were there for him. He wanted to give you one last incredible memory. Indelible. It's indelible. His whole career is indelible. I was on the court with him his first big shot against Phoenix, the playoff game, and I was right behind him when he gave his first primal scream at the Downtown Hoopdo Joe. And I was right behind him in my poncho and my purple and gold fur and right behind him, you know, screaming, you were the one, you were the one. You were the way he were the way, and Kobe Bryant is the way. He's a gone among men. It's a gone among men. We've all been, you know, horrifically affected today. Not just called me the basketball player. I called me the person. He loved his four daughters and to have one have she should go down with him as this is this, you know, beyond a nightmare. I first heard it, you know, via reports, you know, the various you know media giants K five of course an turn K five T MZ. And I just started crying my eyes out and cried and cried because we all loved him. Some misunderstood, you know, everyone thought he was this crazy, crazy, hardass dude who with no emotions and basically that was a way to motivate himself. But with my with me, and I told you, you know, since he was seventeen, I could see, you know, his transcendence as a man. He was such an ancient soul in a seventeen year old body. And not not did he elevate the game of basketball, you know and spread it, you know, the good will you know, not just a China, but but everywhere you know, he's he used to speak in many languages after the game in this postgame interviews because of the international you know, grew up in Italy, you know, with Joe and when you know his father was Joe Bryant's Joe jelly Bean Bryant was a wonderful basketball player. And I, you know, I tenner and BASKETBA player in Europe very early. And you know called he grew up in in uh in Italy, you know, watching the videotapes of the NBA and getting inspired, you know, ten tho miles away and some crazy apartment in Rome and just basically building his psyche. But he was always so in tune with the game and so in tune with life. He loved his he loved his daughter so much. While crews were still working at the crash site thirty miles southeast in downtown Los Angeles, the annual Grammy Awards were about to go live at Staples Center. Here we are singer songwriter Alicia Keys together on music's biggest night, celebrating the artist that do it best. But to be honest with you, we're all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today Los Angeles, America and the whole wide world lost a hero. And we're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built. A lot of people were scrambling behind the scenes at the Grammys that night, including Alicia Keys. She and the group boys two men were able to put together at the very last second a song to pay tribute to Kobe. The guitar and mass lead all wait the bed Hi and Not memo to be coming up in episode three. Our mission is not to just determine what happened, but why it happened and how it happened to prevent a similar accident from ever happening again. The NTSB is on scene and takes over the investigation, and still to come the Sheriff versus TMZ. The Death and Life of Kobe Bryant is a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media, Los Angeles or the I Heart Podcast Network in Los Angeles. I'm Steve Gregory.

Sunday morning, January our Zabayan was piloting a private helicopter with Kobe Bryant, Bryant's daughter and their friends to a basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, California. Along the way, he's a buying, encountered fog and was in constant contact with air traffic controllers. Everything seemed normal until to echo ACTRA you're still at level for following radio silence two Echo actrascount. I'm Steve Gregory in Los Angeles and this is the death and life of Kobe Bryant. Helicopter crashed into a mountain. We heard it and now I'm looking at the flames Malibu Canyon and Agora Road on the Ari Juan Supermarket. We can see it. I'm at four two three five Lost Virgins Road. I just towed a helicopter door re me approximately from Loss Hills Road at went over my head. It's quick and clouds and then I just heard a pop and it immediately stopped. Yes, that was just clarifying where that plane went down. It's right behind the loss Or Metropolitan Water District, Los Virginus Metropolitan Water District, laid behind the building. The flames have gone out. I can just see smoked down barely anything last Virginism Mahad Yes, okay, yeah it's not it's not maholl And. It's too far south, So what's a better locations. I can tell my units behind the Corporate Water District building about a quarter of a mile up in the hills. Okay, I can see the flames still. By now, fire and rescue crews have arrived on scene and some actually had to be airlifted to the crash site. Captain Tony and Brenda was a public information officer with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and met reporters down at the bottom of the hill who had been sent there to the scene, not knowing at the time who was on board. Still early on in this incident, we received a call just before ten am this morning l a County Fire dispatch of an aircraft down here in uh the Malibu area, right off the Lost Virgins essentially Calabasas, right off the Lost Virgines Road here and apparently some folks were out here mountain bike in this morning and saw an aircraft in distress that went down into the hillside. Um there. This was a helicopter it's been confirmed that it was in S seventy six so Korsky helicopter and unfortunately there were no survivors. Um Right now, we're in the very early phase of this. We still have some fire activity on the hill, so La County Fire Department units are are doing a progressive hoseley right now to get water up. The aircraft is down pretty far from the old so we're having to put several hundred feet of hose in to get up there to cool down the scene. And right now we're waiting for the arrival and TSB investigators. There's not much more to add right now. We're still in the very early phase of this. We just know that it's multiple fatalities and there were no survivors. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex v In a WAVA remembers getting the call. I got a phone call from a EID. I was in uh I believe uptown wire and he said, hey, there's been a helicopter crash in in the Lost Hills area, Calabasas, which is not unusual and of itself, because it happens every few months. There's always a crash with a fatality too. He said, no this is I got a lot more of his nine and one of them maybe Kobe every calibrator right there, realizing, oh boy, so made a B line home, got changed out and we made a bee line over to Lost Hills station. Knowing what that entailed, the onslaught of the media, and of course as as we're driving over there, we're asking all the impertinent questions. Make sure that all the operational things that happened. They set up a perimeter. Uh, they got a containment are set up. They have people that are assisting with actually going to the site to see if there are any survivors and to render aid because we typically we're going to get there before fired us on almost every scene. And uh then fire. It was so remote that fire had to be flown in to access it. I think it took our guys almost forty five minutes to hack their way to the point of it because there was no clear trail that they knew of at the time because they're going on visual, so they huffed it on foot to get there. For those involved, there was one of those events that they were never gonna forget. I was in the newsroom that morning. I was filling in as an anchor for a coworker, and as I was writing my newscast, I noticed an alert pop up on our news wire service, Kobe Bryant dyings in helicopter crash. I paused for a moment to let that sink in. I thought it was a hoax. I went down the hall to our sports affili to ask their staff, but they hadn't heard anything yet. I decided to call a source with the l A County Sheriff's Department, who actually confirmed it was Kobe. And when I saw the alert pop up again, it also added the source of the information to TMZ Sports and we'll explore that angle in a future episode. It was time to break into our regular programming kf I am sixty Breaking News. I'm Steve Gregory in the KFI news center. This is breaking news coming from the KMFI news room. We are being told that Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. There was a helicopter crash early this morning around am. The only County Sheriff's Department says the helicopter is a Sikorski and it was registered to the f A A as a private helicopter to Kobe Bryant. We're told that others on board were also killed, not including Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's wife. Again from the KFI new Center, we're just being told moments ago it's been confirmed that Basketball let and Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash. We'll have more at the top of the hour on kf I Am six forty. More stimulating talk. Now, back to more stimulating talk on kf I Am six. Behind the scenes, I'm calling my news director and program director, and after a brief discussion, it was decided our station would go into what we call wall to all coverage. That's when we blow out commercials and bringing our talk show host to actually anchor live coverage. The other story we've been focused on that day was about a strange flu like virus that had been discovered in Wuhan, China, and whether or not it was a danger to southern California. I did have an opportunity to sit down exclusively with Eli County Sheriff v and Wave to ask him a lot of questions about that day. As he looks back, one of them was when he thought it was time to talk with the media and why the crash had occurred. We had a potential up to nine victims that we could not confirm the identity of any individual victim, and so everyone else ran with a story that was COVID because somebody got ahold. I think through TMZ that they already put together. They had the manifest of the flight and they had all the names, but we weren't going to confirm anyone until we got that from the corner. So within a few hours of the accident, the sheriff and Elly County's fire chief had their first press briefing in front of the Sheriff's departments. Lost Hills Substation in Calabasas. Personnel from Las Hils Sheriff's states and responded to the scene of the crash site and assisted the fire department, and we've established a containment area. And now our Aero Bureau has a handle on traffic aircraft accidents. However, when there's a fatality then it switches to the National Transportation Safety Bureau the NTS, and the Federal Aviation Administration the f A. A f A is already unseen and assisting. We're waiting the rival of the Corners Office to assist in the recovery of the remains. As the chief indicated there were no survivors. We have a manifest that indicates that there was nine people on board the aircraft, the pilot plus eight individuals. Uh, there is wine speculation and whose identities are. However, it is being entirely inappropriate right now to identify anyone by name until the Corner has made the identification through their very deliberative profits and they made notifications and next of kin, and it would be extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one of those parents that you learn about it from TMZ. That is just wholly inappropriate. So we're not going to be going there, and we're gonna wait till the Corner does their job, and we're assisting the families of those who believe there have been impacted. And it's a it's a it's a tough process, and our hope goes out to all of the members they were on board, all the family of everyone who was on board this aircraft, and uh, God bless their souls. So at this point in time, we have nothing that we can add until the Corner does her job. And we'll be making those notifications. When we have the information and we know the next of kin have been notified, then we can release the information publicly that you'll be notified in subsequent announcement. This was only supposed to be a briefing. Neither the chief nor the sheriff would answer questions, but that doesn't stop reporters from thrown out a few actually of nine bodies there at the scene. That is that is our belief. Yes, back at the Campfire radio station, we were in full swing with wall to wall coverage. Feel absolutely horrible is and and probably no fault of his own. I'm sure he was being begged for that clearance, but whoever gave him the clearance at the Burbank airport. Absolutely we're hearing more about who else was on board that plane, and according to a Calabasas city official, they have confirmed to NBC that there was a teammate on her basketball team also on board, and we're hearing that Orange Coast College baseball coach John Alto Belly was also on board. This has been confirmed by Orange Coast College John Alto Bell. So it seems maybe he and and and a daughter. Maybe that was a teammate of GS was also on board that helicopter. Here's Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his emotional response to the losing a friend of his, Kobe Bryant. It's very difficult for me to put in words how I feel about the loss of Kobe Bryant as a young boy. News conferences is starting here, so we'll play that for you. Adam Silver has released a statement saying that the NBA family is devastated by the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna for twenty seasons. He says, Kobe showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with an absolute devotion to winning. He was one of the most extraordinary players in the history of our game, with accomplishments that are legendary. Coming up, the NBA catches word of the tragedy as the death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. Yah sixteen teams in the NBA were scheduled to play that day, and they all paid tribute in their own very unique ways, including the game between the Raptors and the spur They have decided that whoever wins the tip, and in this case Toronto. They are going to let the shot clock run out because of the number twenty four to honor Cope cry The Clippers were also scheduled to play the coach at the time, Doc Rivers, was stopped by some reporters just before the games. H M, you know, I don't know, uh, you know, Uh, I just don't have a lot to say. The news is just devastating to everybody who knew him, who knows him in a long time, and uh, you know, he just he meant He means a lot to me obviously. Um, you know, he was such a great opponent. Yeah, this is this is a tough one. I don't uh, we have to go play. Uh, I mean, the news is just devastating for for Vanessa and his and his family, and um, there's just so many people he touched, you know. Um, and you know it's looking at my young players and seeing how emotional they are, uh you know, and uh it just tells you how far has reached us. So um, and this is just shocking news for all of us. And sorry, I don't have a lot to say. I just can't have to go talk to a team before a game and tell him to play again. We're talking exclusively with l A County Sheriff alex Via Nueva as he looks back on the day of the accident. I asked him why it was important to have a second briefing that night, especially since there was no new information. Well, there's some things that are just straight logistical practical that we needed. We need to discourage people from going there because they had flooded all the streets, The lookie lows were out in force. We had one fool who actually in the middle of the night tried to you know, hike through the brush to get to the crash site. So we had to have twenty four hour security on horseback. We had departs on horseback and on a t V s patrolling the perimeter. By now it's nightfall in the l A County Sheriff and other officials have gathered for a second briefing and press conference. Good evening, everyone. Purpose of of tonight's press up day is to give you an idea of what's gonna be the next steps of this uh, this process, this investigation is going to be and everyone's role, as you can imagine, this is gonna be very extensive process. It's gonna take not just days, but weeks for us to get to recover from this. And as the other count of Shriffs Department, we're working with our federal partners, which is NTSB and the f a A in a system during the course of this investigation, and the f A is already unseen and they've provided very invaluable assistance. They've secured a five mile of flight restriction for the area of the crash site and also five thousand foot ceiling over it, so that is a great help in securing the crash site. As you may already heard from the NTSP, they're already in route to our location to initiate the investigation. We want to thank our partners in the Early County Fire Department for their timely response putting out the fire and secure in the area. And right now it's uh as you can imagine, it's all logistical nightmare in a sense because the crash site itself is not easily accessible. However, we're now faced with I guess well wishers and people morning who have descended on the area, on the residential community and even the crash site itself, and we have to reiterate it is off limits to everybody. Except the first responders and investigators. So we now have personnel deployed to get people away from there, and they cannot access to crash site. It is in very rough terrain, very dangerous even in daylight, much less in the middle of the night, So we just want to people stay away. The location itself is in a residential community or adjacent to residential community, and there are no businesses, and we want to have the roads free for first responders and for investigators. If you do not have an identification establishes you as a local resident, you will not be permitted access to the area, and there are road closures in effect right now. So now I want to turn it over to a to UH. Dr Lucas, good evening. My name is Dr Jonathan Lucas. I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the County of Los Angeles UM. Today our department had multiple members of our Special Operations Response Team that we're on site. Um are recovery efforts began today, but as the Sheriff UH mentioned, given the terrain and the condition of the site, UH we expect that this will probably take at least a couple, if not a few days to complete the recovery Our priority is completing the recovery as quickly as possible, but but but safely, UH and thoroughly and UM and doing that to make sure our staff are, like I said, are safe. UM. Our next priority after recovery is identification and notification of the families, all of all of which will do as soon as we possibly can. I also want to emphasize that we'll be doing our work thoroughly, quickly, and with the utmost compassion. So again, we really we offer our condolences to the families at this point, and I just want to reassure everybody we're doing everything we can to confirm identifications and give closure to the families involved. Thank you. Coming up. A sportscaster and longtime friend of Kobe's is in shock as the death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. Y Vic the Brick Jacobs is a fixture on l A Radio. He's been a sportscaster for decades and is a regular on kl A C A M. During our wald Wall coverage on KFI, we were able to get him to come on. It wasn't easy, but Vic fought back tears as he looked back on his relationship with Kobe. This is such a living nightmare for all of us, For new Kobe, It's touched our lives, a transcendent spirit, a profound essence. I'm not just an insanely great basketball player, but one who, at forty years old, was this beginning to blossom. I think, Shannon, you were talking about that earlier is so true. He had so much to give, you know, he gave all he could on the court. Every possession he bowled like it was his last possession of his freaking life. That's how he played the game. He was taped up like a mummy by Gary VD on hundreds of occasions, and I'd see him in the lake, a locker room. I'd see in the training room with VD, and he was in such pain. But he knew, he knew people wanted to see him and see his lust for hoop. And he has such an incredible lust and desire for winning. You know. Thus, you know he evolved into the Mamba. But I knew Colbe when he was seventeen, twenty four years ago, when he first came to town from Philadelphia rookie on the Lakers. He was going to play summer ball in Long Beach at the pyramid. I called this hotel room, and I said, Colby, this is vic the brick looked to come and see you and say hi, and the cities are excited. And he said, sure, come on down. They came to his hotel. We're eating French fries together in his room, and he was iced up to his hip. Even at seventeen. He was preserving his body like like I had never seen before. He had such he was so in tune, you know, with with the whole you know, mind, body and soul of Hoop. But on the court, unparalleled love of the game, Harold Old desire to win, unparalleled love of the city of Los Angeles, of the world. You know. He was the first to go to China to open up that bridge of harmony through hope. No no, no one had the you know, the wisdom and really the division of Kobe Bryant. Everyone just saw him. He was he was a hardass. So you can't talk to this guy. But my my experience with Kobe was one of a young poet at seventeen. And when I first saw him at Long Beach, I'll tell room, I said, I'm in the presence of a poet. I knew I knew he was, you know, beyond basketball. He was. He was so strong, he was he had this iron will about him, this indomitable spirit I knew would transcend the game. And it has. I mean, he's done so much for basketball. But also you know when he retired a few years ago and who could get his last game when he dropped sixty on Utah, I mean, come on, I can barely move and said he was in pain. It was injured. He's still He knew the fans were there for him. He wanted to give you one last incredible memory. Indelible. It's indelible. His whole career is indelible. I was on the court with him his first big shot against Phoenix, the playoff game, and I was right behind him when he gave his first primal scream at the Downtown Hoopdo Joe. And I was right behind him in my poncho and my purple and gold fur and right behind him, you know, screaming, you were the one, you were the one. You were the way he were the way, and Kobe Bryant is the way. He's a gone among men. It's a gone among men. We've all been, you know, horrifically affected today. Not just called me the basketball player. I called me the person. He loved his four daughters and to have one have she should go down with him as this is this, you know, beyond a nightmare. I first heard it, you know, via reports, you know, the various you know media giants K five of course an turn K five T MZ. And I just started crying my eyes out and cried and cried because we all loved him. Some misunderstood, you know, everyone thought he was this crazy, crazy, hardass dude who with no emotions and basically that was a way to motivate himself. But with my with me, and I told you, you know, since he was seventeen, I could see, you know, his transcendence as a man. He was such an ancient soul in a seventeen year old body. And not not did he elevate the game of basketball, you know and spread it, you know, the good will you know, not just a China, but but everywhere you know, he's he used to speak in many languages after the game in this postgame interviews because of the international you know, grew up in Italy, you know, with Joe and when you know his father was Joe Bryant's Joe jelly Bean Bryant was a wonderful basketball player. And I, you know, I tenner and BASKETBA player in Europe very early. And you know called he grew up in in uh in Italy, you know, watching the videotapes of the NBA and getting inspired, you know, ten tho miles away and some crazy apartment in Rome and just basically building his psyche. But he was always so in tune with the game and so in tune with life. He loved his he loved his daughter so much. While crews were still working at the crash site thirty miles southeast in downtown Los Angeles, the annual Grammy Awards were about to go live at Staples Center. Here we are singer songwriter Alicia Keys together on music's biggest night, celebrating the artist that do it best. But to be honest with you, we're all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today Los Angeles, America and the whole wide world lost a hero. And we're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built. A lot of people were scrambling behind the scenes at the Grammys that night, including Alicia Keys. She and the group boys two men were able to put together at the very last second a song to pay tribute to Kobe. The guitar and mass lead all wait the bed Hi and Not memo to be coming up in episode three. Our mission is not to just determine what happened, but why it happened and how it happened to prevent a similar accident from ever happening again. The NTSB is on scene and takes over the investigation, and still to come the Sheriff versus TMZ. The Death and Life of Kobe Bryant is a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media, Los Angeles or the I Heart Podcast Network in Los Angeles. I'm Steve Gregory.