Multiple people dead after private jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood
Music talent agent Dave Shapiro was among those killed when a small private plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday, igniting cars and homes and injuring eight people on the ground.
The fiery crash occurred around 3:47 a.m. when a small Cessna 550 abruptly came down into the Murphy Canyon neighborhood.
Shapiro, 42, the owner of Sound Talent Group, was one of at least three people killed in the crash, according to his music talent agency. Company officials told Billboard the plane was carrying other passengers who have not yet been identified, but none survived.
The plane could hold between eight and 10 people, but authorities have not said how many people were believed to be aboard the aircraft at the time. However, authorities confirmed that all of those injured were on the ground.
The aircraft appeared to have destroyed at least one home, leaving it charred and collapsed. About 10 to 15 homes and half a dozen vehicles also suffered damage, and it took first responders several hours to extinguish the flames.
When asked where the plane debris spread, Assistant Fire Chief Dan Eddy noted it was “everywhere” and there was a “very large” debris field.
The disaster, which occurred during particularly foggy weather, prompted the evacuation of a stretch of homes within the neighborhood, which mainly serves military service members.
The crash let a steady stream of jet fuel running down the street and caused multiple cars to catch fire, Eddy said. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said “close to 100 people” were displaced due to the sheer amount of jet fuel spilled and overall destruction. Authorities said they hoped people would be able to return to their homes by Thursday evening.
It was also not immediately known what led to the crash, though the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a “clipped” power line in the area that the plane may have struck.
The flight had been coming from the Midwest, authorities said. According to the flight tracking site Flight Aware, the plane was supposed to arrive at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport in San Diego at 3:47 a.m., coming in from the small Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas.
Officials at the Kansas airport said it was there making a fueling stop. The flight originated Wednesday night in Teterboro, New Jersey, according to Flight Aware.
Hours after the disaster, chunks of metal from the aircraft remained littered across the street, with no clear body of the plane visible. The fiery aftermath, with cars up in flames and thick plumes of gray smoke rising from the neighborhood, left locals in shock.
“It was definitely horrifying for sure, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop your head and get to safety,” Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said.
Shapiro, the only person identified among the deceased, was an avid pilot with over a decade of experience flying. It was not immediately clear if he was flying the plane or if he was a passenger. He was also known around the music industry as a daredevil, according to the Billboard report.
“We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends,” a spokesperson for Sound Talent Group told Billboard. “Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted by today’s tragedy. Thank you so much for respecting their privacy at this time.”
From BASE jumping to aerobatic flying, Helicopters to twin engines, flight instructing to furthering his own education, doesn’t matter to Dave as long as he gets to be in the sky,” his aviation website reads.
Shapiro, who worked with bands including Sum 41 and Pierce the Veil, was also a staunch supporter of independent music. He launched his own agency in 2018 with Tim Borror and Matt Anderson.
With Associated Press contributions.
Doctors say pay rises aren’t enough as they threaten strike action
Doctors are threatening strike action despite being given an above-inflation 4 per cent pay increase, claiming that it does not go far enough in restoring historical pay freezes.
Ministers announced the increases after the latest review of the public sector pay, with other NHS workers such as nurses, midwives and physiotherapists receiving a 3.6 per cent increase.
Teachers have also threatened to “register a dispute” over their 4 per cent increase, which will only partly be covered by the Labour government, with the rest to be covered by existing school budgets.
An additional £615m of funding will be provided to schools this financial year to help them with the costs of pay awards for staff, she added, roughly equivalent to three-quarters of the pay rise.
Schools will be required to fund the remaining quarter of the pay rise through “improved productivity and smarter spending”, according to Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said in many schools this would result in “cuts in service provision to children and young people, job losses, and additional workloads for an already overstretched profession”.
He added: “Unless the government commits to fully funding the pay rise then it is likely that the NEU will register a dispute with the government on the issue of funding, and campaign to ensure every parent understands the impact of a cut in the money available to schools, and that every politician understands this too.”
The increases, recommended by independent pay review bodies, are above the rate of inflation, which jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, up from 2.6 per cent in March and the highest since January 2024.
NHS staff in Wales are also likely to be given the same pay award, as the Welsh government has accepted the same recommendations.
Professor Philip Banfield, the British Medical Association’s chair of council, warned it was already considering strike action, as the union believes the pay rise does not do enough to restore doctors’ pay after previous salary freezes.
“Doctors’ pay is still around a quarter less than it was in real terms 16 years ago and today’s ‘award’ delays pay restoration even more,” he said.
Meanwhile, NHS staff who are members of the Royal College of Nursing and GMB union will be voting on whether to accept the increase, arguing that it is “entirely swallowed up by inflation”.
Elsewhere, most members of the armed forces will be given a 4.5 per cent pay rise, according to defence secretary John Healey, while senior members of the military will receive a 3.75 per cent rise.
Senior civil servants will get a 3.25 per cent pay rise, according to the Cabinet Office, but ministers plan to defer rolling out new pay bands as part of a review of salaries among the upper echelons of the civil service.
Prison officers and managers are also set to get a 4 per cent pay rise, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
Judicial office holders, a group which includes judges, will also get a 4 per cent pay rise, after Ms Mahmood rejected a recommendation their pay should rise by 4.75 per cent.
Becker ‘lost for words’ that Djokovic has not kept Murray as his coach
Boris Becker revealed he is “lost for words” that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s coaching partnership has ended after just six months.
Djokovic hired great rival Murray as his coach at the back end of last year, with the pair working together at the Australian Open in January, where the Serb beat Carlos Alcaraz and reached the semi-finals before withdrawing due to injury.
Yet Djokovic’s results have nosedived since, with just one final appearance in Miami, and he lost his first matches on the clay of Monte Carlo and Madrid. As such, last week, the pair jointly announced that they have gone their separate ways, with Djokovic adding this week he “couldn’t get more” out of the partnership.
But three-time Wimbledon champion Becker, who coached Djokovic between 2013-2016, believed the pair would continue working together until at least The Championships, which start on 30 June.
“I’m a little bit surprised that they would end their working relationship just a week before Roland-Garros,” Becker told The Independent, ahead of the French Open beginning this Sunday.
“I thought Melbourne was a big success. I was happy to see Andy back in action in Novak’s corner. I really wanted to see them both at Wimbledon, actually.
“Andy knows a thing or two about winning Wimbledon, he’s very popular there. I thought it would be an advantage for Novak to have Andy in his corner.
“I’m a little bit lost for words [as to] why they’ve broken up just before the second grand slam.”
Djokovic, who turned 38 on Thursday, is a seven-time winner at Wimbledon but has lost in the final to Carlos Alcaraz in the last two years, while Murray won the tournament in 2013 and 2016.
Becker, who will feature on TNT Sports’s coverage of Roland-Garros, coached Djokovic to Wimbledon titles in 2014 and 2015, and the German, 57, said he considers the 24-time grand slam champion like a “younger brother”.
Asked further what went wrong with the Djokovic-Murray partnership, Becker replied: “I thought it was always about the grand slams and I thought the campaign in Melbourne went very well.
“I don’t know the reasons. Novak is a smart guy – he knows what he’s doing. I definitely thought this relationship would go at least until Wimbledon, but I was wrong.
“But you should never underestimate Novak Djokovic, he’s always a very fierce competitor, he always has something up his sleeve.
“Novak Djokovic knows pretty much everything about tennis. So, who can he talk to that knows more?
“The challenge is for Novak to find someone that he has respect [for], who he can learn something from.
“That’s very difficult because he’s so good and knowledgeable, he’s done everything there is to do in tennis and that’s the difficulty he has.”
Djokovic, now the world No 6, is eyeing a record-breaking 25th grand slam on the clay courts of Roland-Garros over the next fortnight, the same venue where he won his last tournament – gold at the Paris Olympics – last summer.
“I think he has tennis left in him, but he has to be realistic,” Becker added, regarding Djokovic’s future in the sport.
“He’s not getting any younger, he cannot play forever. Those are the facts. You have to deal with reality and start to think about how much longer you have to play. That would be a wise thing to do.”
The Serb won his first match on clay this year at the Geneva Open on Wednesday, beating Marton Fucsovics in straight sets. He faces Matteo Arnaldi in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Watch every moment of Roland-Garros live and exclusive on TNT Sports and discovery+ from May 25th
Zelensky reveals ‘significant’ Russian losses in Kursk and says fight isn’t over
Donald Trump told European leaders after a phone call with the Russian president that Vladimir Putin was not ready to end the war, reports have claimed.
The alleged comments mark the first time that Trump has suggested that Putin is not interested in ending the war, despite having repeatedly claimed that the Russian leader wants the war to be over.
The Wall Street Journal, citing senior European officials familiar with the conversations, reported the story overnight.
The White House has since denied this account. Karline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump “did say he believes Putin is winning the war, but he never said ‘Putin isn’t ready to end the war’.”
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has suffered more than 63,000 casualties in Kursk and that Ukrainian operations there continue, hours after Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the region.
“Since the start of the Kursk operation in August, the Russian army has suffered significant losses – more than 63,000 killed and wounded in that area alone,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.