Hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil Sunday night, Jan. 26, at Newport Ridge Community Park to remember seven members of the Newport Beach community — including Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna — who died hours earlier in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
“There were seven lights that were burning bright this morning in Newport Beach and they got snuffed out,” said Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill. “When we lose fathers and mothers and daughters and sons and those lights go out, we come together as a community. That’s who we are.”
News of the helicopter crash in Calabasas raced through Newport Beach Sunday at coffee shops, grocery stores and on all social media platforms. The helicopter that departed from John Wayne airport around 9 a.m. was carrying the pilot and eight passengers to Bryant’s youth basketball academy in Thousand Oaks.
Other Newport Beach residents included Orange Coast College head baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, 13, who attended Ensign Intermediate School and was a teammate of Gianna Bryant. Sarah and Payton Chester, also of Newport Beach, were on the helicopter along with Christina Mauser, a coach at Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar and Kobe Bryant’s top assistant coach on the travel team.
Payton Chester also was a teammate of Gianna Bryant.
“My kids and I are devastated,” Matt Mauser wrote on Facebook. “We lost our beautiful wife and mom today in a helicopter crash.”
Bryant was scheduled to coach in a game on Sunday at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks when the helicopter crashed.
Newport Beach City Councilwoman Joy Brenner tearfully recounted Sunday night how she found out about the tragic accident from her daughter and granddaughter — both friends of the Altobelli family.
“Lexi (Altobelli’s 16-year-old daughter) texted my daughter and said my mom, dad and sister were all on board,” Brenner said. “My daughter went right over and stayed with her. Her younger sister was on Kobe’s daughter’s team along with Peyton Chester.
“It’s really a Newport family story,” Brenner said. “It was bad enough when we first heard about Kobe but then it just kept getting worse. It just shakes us all to our core when this happens to extraordinarily good people. It makes us doubt the world as being fair.”
Brenner remembered seeing Bryant more and more as his daughters got older.
“Kobe, he wasn’t just a celebrity, he was a loving, kind member of the community,” she said. “I remember watching him with his kids — you couldn’t ask for a better dad. He was just kindness personified.”
O’Neill and others in Newport Beach also recounted their memories of Bryant.
“He was probably one of the most famous people that has lived in Newport Beach,” O’Neill said. “He raised his daughters here. A lot of people lost an icon and a friend. In Newport Beach, we lost a neighbor.”
O’Neill recalled Bryant’s outreach in the community and at the city’s recreation center.
“There are plenty of people I know that saw him at Pavilions and Starbucks in Newport Coast,” O’Neill said. “He was never anything but gracious. Our police officers and firefighters talked about how kind he was.”
Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles echoed O’Neill’s thoughts.
“Kobe and his family were always very supportive of our Newport Beach community,” he said. “He wouldn’t hesitate to thank our first responders when he would see them in person. He was very genuine and gracious with his time and commitment to our youth.”
Ryan Williams, a Newport Beach resident, recalled Bryant coming to his rescue after someone crashed into him while he was driving his car on Newport Coast Drive in September 2018.
“He ran to my car. He helped me. Most of all he was kind,” Williams said in a Twitter post Sunday. “A week later he saw me and my family at Starbucks. He told my wife how lucky I was to be alive. From that time on, whenever we would see him in Newport Coast, he continued to be kind. A fist bump to my son, a high-five to my daughter and words of wisdom to me.”
At the vigil Sunday night, residents shared personal stories and memories of Bryant. Many wore his Lakers jersey.
“We’re going to mourn together for a long time,” O’Neill said. “Ladies and gentlemen, never forget — never forget the people we lost tonight.”
Newport Beach schools are expected to have crisis counselors available this week. They include Mariner’s Elementary School, Ensign Intermediate School, Harbor High School, Harbor View Elementary and Harbor Day. St. Margaret’s in San Juan Capistrano also will have counselors available.
The Newport Beach City Council is expected to recognize the seven Newport Beach residents at its meeting Tuesday.
A statement was issued by the city on Monday.
“As information was released throughout Sunday on additional victims of the Calabasas helicopter accident, tragedy was compounded upon tragedy as it became clear that other beloved and respected members of the Newport Beach and Orange County communities were travelling with Kobe and Gianna Bryant. We wish to extend our deepest, deepest condolences to the families, friends, and neighbors of John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, Christina Mauser, as well as Sarah Chester, Payton Chester and pilot Ara Zobayan during this devastating time.”