x
Breaking News
More () »

2019 Year in Review: San Diego's top stories

News 8 covered the biggest San Diego stories for the entire year of 2019.

SAN DIEGO — As the decade comes to a close, we look back at some of San Diego's biggest stories in 2019.

Two people visiting from North Dakota from were killed on January 21, 2019, when a roughly 75-foot- tall Torrey Pine tree fell onto a two-story house in the Point Loma Heights area as they were asleep in bed.

Dozens of people fell victim to a brunch scam that was supposed to take place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on February 16, 2019.

Sixteen people seated in five gondolas were rescued on February 18, 2019, after being trapped on SeaWorld's Bayside Skyride over Mission Bay for several hours. 

A single gunman killed one woman and injured 3 others during a shooting at the Chabad of Poway on the morning of Saturday, April 24, 2019.  The 19-year-old suspect was taken into custody and faces cases in both state and federal court which both carry the death penalty.

RELATED: Man accused in fatal Poway synagogue shooting charged with federal hate crimes

RELATED: Rabbi injured in Poway synagogue shooting speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast

The college admission scandal shook the collegiate ranks on March 11, 2019, and two of the 50 people originally charged were from San Diego, including former KFMB Stations owner, Elisabeth Kimmel.

Two people were injured in a shooting and the suspected shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot on June 17, 2019, in a Costco parking lot in Chula Vista

Before the second day for the summer meet, two horses died at the Del Mar Fairgrounds race track after colliding during a training session on July 18, 2019.

There was plenty of controversy over the "Drag Queen Storytime" program at a Chula Vista library in late August of 2019.

News 8 reporter, Abbie Alford, and photojournalist, Mike Edison, were able to be part of a trip of a lifetime as a part emotional journey to Washington D.C. with World War II and Korean War veterans on Honor Flight San Diego in early May 2019.

RELATED: News 8 hosts Honor Flight San Diego viewing party

RELATED: War veterans take off on one-of-a-kind Honor Flight

The City of Encinitas confirmed three people were killed after a sea bluff collapsed on them on a stretch of ocean shoreline in Leucadia on Friday, August 2, 2019. 

In May 2019, Jeff Zevely told the amazing story of Laird Murfey, the third-grader with cerebral palsy and his classmates singing his new song, "Balloon" at a school festival.

One employee was fatally injured and two others were injured on November 6, 2019, during a shooting at Otay Mesa’s Church’s Chicken. The San Diego man - believed to be a regular customer - opened fire after a Church’s Chicken employee refused to accept the counterfeit bill he was trying to use as payment. The suspect was eventually caught in Memphis, TN.

Rep. Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty before a federal judge in San Diego on December 3, 2019 to misusing $150,000 in campaign funds for his own personal expenses. Hunter faces a possible five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced March 17, 2020.

A single-engine Cessna made an emergency landing on the I-5 freeway in Carlsbad on December 12, 2019, shutting down traffic but avoiding any contact with vehicles or causing injuries before it ended up in the center divide.

While there were certainly more stories that could have made the list in 2019, these were some of the big events that happened in San Diego over the past year.  

Before You Leave, Check This Out