CALABASAS, CA — Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was killed along with one of his daughters and seven other people in a helicopter crash into a hillside near Malibu Sunday morning, according to the authorities and news reports. Bryant was 41 years old.
Bryant was headed to a travel basketball game with his daughter, Gianna, 13, according to multiple reports. A manifest showed that nine people had boarded the helicopter Sunday morning, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Sunday afternoon. Villanueva declined to identify any of the victims.
A third victim has been identified as John Altobelli, head baseball coach at Orange Coast College. The college confirmed his death in a statement, saying he had worked at the school for 27 years.
None of the people on board the helicopter survived the crash, which was called in at 9:47 a.m. on the 4200 block of Las Virgenes Road, according to officials. The number of passengers was originally reported as five, but authorities said at a news conference later Sunday that nine people were believed to be on board.
Immediately following the crash, firefighters responded to the scene to douse the flames coming from the wreckage and a quarter-acre brush fire, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at Sunday's news conference. Crews encountered difficulties as magnesium was at the crash site, which "is very hard for our firefighters to extinguish" due to its reaction with water and oxygen, he said.

Osby sounded like a complete idiot at the press conference.
Kept saying he knew nothing. - GS.