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a bay area woman strangled on a santa cruz beach. >> it's heartbreaking to know that happened to anybody. >> where police say they found her boyfriend immediately after she was killed. plus, a member of the u.s. air force set himself on fire outside the israeli embassy to protest the war in gaza. how people are remembering him tonight on a san francisco street corner. and squatters take over a mega mansion in an elaborate money making scheme. >> it was a whole thing they had operated to completely take control over the house. >> the x-rated business that was discovered inside. from kpix, this is the late news with sara donchey on cbs

news bay area. >> hello, i'm sara donchey. it was an act of protest that shocked the world. a member of the u.s. air force set himself on fire, shouting free palestine as he burned to death. he was remembered by mourners in the bay area. a group of them held a vigil in the castro tonight. >> aaron bushnell is now a martyr. most people can't understand why someone would do that. when someone becomes a martyr they become part of our collective consciousness. >> this group had candles, flower, and signs, calling for a ceasefire in honor of aaron bushnell. bushnell was a 25-year-old who worked in cyberdefense for the u.s. air force. he recorded video of himself pouring liquid on his body, setting himself on fire, and screaming free palestine.

he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he later died. with gaza in the middle of a humanitarian crisis a temporary ceasefire deal could come soon. it could lead to a six-week pause in fighting and the release of dozens of israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of palestinian prisoners. while getting ice cream in new york, president biden said he's hoping for a deal next week. >> well, i hope by the beginning of the weekend -- i mean the end of the weekend. at least my national security advisor tells me that we're close. it's not done yet. my hope is by next monday we'll have a ceasefire. >> biden also says that israel is ready to halt the fighting in gaza during the month of ramadan which goes from march 10th to april 9 rts. a young bay area woman and uc student was killed on a santa cruz beach and as felix cortez reports, her boyfriend is the prime suspect. >> i think everybody that i've talked to about it on campus is

pretty horrified and like shocked that that could happen. >>reporter: santa cruz police say a uc santa cruz student was strangled at seabright state beach early friday morning. her accused killer is this man, 20-year-old samuel stone, the victim's boyfriend and former uc student. >> i mean, like there's crazy people everywhere, but it's definitely -- it's scary to think that, like, anybody on our campus, like affiliated with our campus even in the past was capable of doing something like that. >> reporter: investigators say it was the boyfriend who made the original 911 call. >> he called 911 and informed our dispatch center that a homicide had just occurred and that he was somehow involved. >> reporter: when first responders arrived, the suspect was standing over his girlfriend. >> they located the suspect, as well as the victim who was

unconscious. officers began administering life-saving measures to the victim, who was later transported to dominican hospital. she passed away later that evening. >> reporter: the victim, who had not been identified as of monday evening, is a 21-year-old bay area woman living in santa cruz and studying at uc santa cruz. >> we determined that they've been in a dating relationship for a couple of years, but at this point we don't have a motive for what led up to the homicide. >> it's heartbreaking to know that, like, that happened to anybody, especially in a public place. like i know a lot of students were at the beach that weekend. >> stone is facing a murder charge and is being held on no bail. he's set to be arraigned tomorrow. tonight we are learning a suspect was apparently shooting a gun from a shed during a stand-off that shut down an east bay neighborhood for 12 hours. deputies say just after 1:00 a.m. they responded to reports of a shooting in san pablo on rachel road. they found the suspect in a shed and set up a perimeter. but deputy says the man started shooting in the air at police drones and

toward patrol cars. after an hours long stand-off, 38-year-old leo ortega was arrested. luckily, no one was hurt. staying in the east bay, it's taken more than half a century of battles to see this happen on the uc berkeley campus. in 1969, students faced off with riot police over the fate of peoples park, but now the park is lined with shipping containers after the university took it back to finally build student housing. but as kenny choi report, some activists say the fight to take back peoples park is far from over. >> reporter: park advocates say this is not about student or supportive housing. they say the university can build that elsewhere and that this fight is all about what the park represents. >> the opposition to destroying the park -- >> reporter: longtime resident harvey smith is fighting to keep peoples park in its current state. >> it's a political space. it's a recreational space. >> reporter: smith is an

organizer for the peoples park historic district advocacy group. he attended cal and once worked for the university but opposes his plan to build housing on this open space. >> this is the university of california, fully capable of maintaining a beautiful, well kept park. >> reporter: some 100 park supporters gathered for the first teach-in related to peoples park on the uc berkeley campus. bringing together staff, student, and community advocates. smith says student housing can be built ls where on uc property. >> despite what the administration says, there is actually broad support on this campus for maintaining the park, and i think people understand the false choice between having to choose a park and student housing. >> reporter: university officials say there's an urgent need for housing and that the project will provide student housing for more than 1,100 undergraduates. it'll establish per innocent supportive housing for more than 100 unhoused and people of

low income. alex knox is executive director of berkeley's telegraph business improvement district, which fully supports the transformation. >> we're very excited to see it finally moving forward, feeling very optimistic it's going to go through. >> reporter: his organization recently installed planters at twieth triangle that's a stones throw away from the park. their vision so to transform it into the public gathering space. they believe keeping the park as it is doesn't serve the broader community. >> they didn't feel like it was somewhere that they were welcome to go, that they could really enjoy. >> reporter: meanwhile, smith is hoping to recruit more support on campus. >> we hope to mobilize both the teaching staff and more students. students have been involved from the beginning. >> reporter: it's an unrelenting battle as smith's lawsuit to stop the university's project will be decided by the state supreme court. an arsonist on the loose. he's accused of targeting teslas. we hear from the owner of a car that went up in flames. still a few clouds

lingering out there over the santa clara valley as we look out from san jose. but those clouds will depart, and without that blanket of cloud cover, temperatures are going to be chilly by early tomorrow morning. take a look at how much we warm up tomorrow and tracking the next rain chance in the first alert forecast. >> thank you, paul. and this is no ordinary squatting scheme. the rental scam and an x-rated operation that one realtor discovered. and sometimes curious animals get stuck in weird places, but people are shocked about what it took to rescue this dog. tonight -- >> if it was forgetting things, i think i'd remember it.

tonight an arsonist is accused of setting not one but two teslas on fire in san francisco. our da lin tracked down the owner of this one who says he could not believe what he was seeing. >> reporter: an arsonist caught in the act. the person sets papers on top of the front passenger tire of a 2020 white tesla model y. he uses a lighter to burn the papers and walks away. we're speeding up the surveillance footage to show you within minutes the front portion of the model y is engulfed in flames. a neighbor shares this cellphone video, the flames shooting about ten feet into the air. this

happened on saturday morning around 12:45 a.m. near the intersection of shipley and fourth streets. nine hours later, van walked by his own tesla, not knowing it was his. >> we were going to go get in the car and play some tennis. first thing i noticed was that, hey, someone burned a car. and we just kind of walked by it. and then we -- i thought, shoot, where's my car? and i said -- and i thought, no, that can't be my car. and then i kind of looked around at the parts that were here. the license plate was here, and it was a white color, and i was like, oh my god, my car is gone. >> reporter: a witness gave me this video, showing the tesla after firefighters put out the fire. flames destroyed the front. >> there was a radiator and there was my license plate. and there was some melted umbrellas and some clothing that i recognized too. >> reporter: the heat melted the back of a red hyundai parked in front of the tesla

and charred a nearby tree. about 30 minutes earlier one block away flames also destroyed another tesla model y. >> i smell something, and then i woke up. and then i see this red. >> a lot of smoke over here. >> smoke. and then i open the window and then look at it. my god. >> reporter: these two witnesses called 911 and said firefighters responded very quickly. but they say the model y was also destroyed. >> i can't believe it's random, i guess. that's -- and that's what's scarry, because why would they go after those cars? >> because it's an electric car, and they know that electric cars have big battery fires. >> reporter: that's one theory. police say only the arsonist can explain y. two model ys on two alley streets one block apart. the arsonist appears to be a man wearing a hoodie or beanie. he carried a few bags. i showed van the surveillance video. he doesn't recognize the arsonist.

>> i think it's random is my guess. sad and disappointed, but there's such bad guys out there. >> reporter: van drove his tesla from seattle to visit his two sons. they're studying at a san francisco dental school. he'll rent a car to drive back to seattle. >> i hear it's beautiful and it's ugly. and i got hit by the ugly. >> okay, here's another look at the arson suspect. it is hard to see his face. tesla owners in the neighborhood aren't taking chances. some told da they are going to pay for garage parking until the person is caught. okay, it was a beautiful weather weekend -- >> fantastic. >> i mean, it couldn't have been better. we really appreciated how nice it was because we've had so many wet weekends lately. i was at the beach. the city was just packed with people enjoying the sunshine. it was really nice. >> this was the eighth weekend so far in 2024 --

>> mm-hmm. >> -- the second dry weekend. >> oh really? i didn't know the numbers on it, i just know the feeling of sadness. the feeling of sadness and just -- and i know we need the rain. don't come for me in the comments. i know we need the rain. >> could it happen on maybe some time other than the weekends? >> like a monday. >> i know, but we got more rain next weekend. i'm glad you were able to soak up a little bit of warmth. >> it was nice. >> before we head into early march, which is going to feel like january. lousy march weather for the first couple days of the new month. but not yet. dry weather continues tomorrow and again on wednesday expect then the pattern shifts. we're going to see mostly light to moderate rainfall headed our way beginning thursday but then continuing friday and into saturday and maybe even into sunday. so yet another fairly damp weekend. we'll talk about that momentarily. let's take a look outside right now. clear skies over downtown san francisco, other than that one cloud. tvrps have mostly dropped to the low 50s. upper 40s in santa

rosa and with clear skies or clearing skies overhead, our temperatures are going to drop off quickly as we head through the rest of tonight. inland starting off tomorrow morning in the mid to upper 30s with low to mid-40s around the bay and along the coast, three to eight degrees below average but five to ten degrees above record territory. not that far out of the ordinary for late february. let's take a look at tomorrow's forecast. high temperatures, which despite the chilly start are going to warm up to what's normal. mid-60s in san jose. low 60s for morgan hill. low 60s in most locations. doesn't really matter if you are inland, in the east bay, or around the bay. 61 fremont. 62 in redwood city. the one cool spot, 58 degrees for half moon bay. one of the few locations that stays in the upper 50s. barely hitting 60 degrees in san francisco, but it counts. and temperatures in the north bay reaching up mostly into the low 60s as well by tomorrow afternoon. it looks like wednesday is going to be fractionally warmer, but just a couple degrees above normal for this time of year. and then the big shift happens as we hit the

end of the workweek, thursday and friday. let's check out futurecast. clear skies tonight, clear skies throughout the day tomorrow, and we should see plenty of sunshine on wednesday. just a few fair weather clouds late the the day. the rain chances increase late wednesday night into early thursday morning. this is going to be really light shower activity to start. we're not going to add up a lot of rain during the day on thursday, but then the rain becomes a little bit heavier. no torrential downpours in store the way things look right now, but just waves of light to moderate rain falling thursday night continuing into friday, friday night into saturday. this is going to be a big snow maker for the sierra as well. we'll come back to that momentarily. let's add up the amount of rain we expect through the course of what's going to be a prolonged stretch of wet weather continuing all the way through much of the day on sunday. i think we're going to see at least light lingering showers. total that up, as long as that stretch of wet weather is, you'd think these numbers would be higher, but we're anticipating just over 0.5 an

inch to 1.5 an inch around santa rosa. just under 2 inches in the santa cruz mountains. not enough, especially when spaced out over the course of days to lead to significant flooding threat. we'll keep an eye on the trends in case things change, but it looks like this is a much bigger deal for the sierra. the snow level dropping to 2,500 feet. around 3,000 feet they're talking one to four feet of snow adding up as we progress this winter storm watch which goes from thursday all the way through sunday above 5,000 feet in elevation, anywhere from 5 to 12 feet of snow. any time after sunset on thursday do not be traveling into the higher elevation, because it is going to be basically impossible to travel. let's take a look at the forecast for the next seven days. we'll return to the bay area here. temperatures in the low to mid-60s tomorrow and wednesday. and then the wetter and cooler pattern settles in. temperatures saturday and sunday reaching the low to mid-50s for highs. a little frosting of snow on some of the bay area's peaks by early

saturday morning, vern? all right there, paul. what do we got on a monday night in sports? a local team to us but number one in the nation on the sports landscape. giants fans, wait until you hear this head scratcher. and help is on the

i don't know how professional basketball players do it, but playing back to back seems exhausting. >> have you seen their paycheck? yeah, that's how they do it. >> that'll do it. that'll do it. >> warriors sitting on 29 wins, they need 44 imo. nba, we're talking about the warriors on the road. they open up a four-game trip in the nation's capital tomorrow, just when the dubs need a pick -me-up, reinforcements are here. chris paul set to return against the wizards. he's been out since early january. cp3 could be a boost to steph ecurry who struggled with his shot the last two games. and head coach steve kerr thinks his star player has looked fresher. >> i think steph has looked tired to me the last couple

games. it makes sense doing the all star game stuff, not getting much of a break. three games in four nights. >> do you not want to rest at all coming up?. >> no. the standard you set when you don't meet it, there's questions about are your legs tired? no, you just miss shots and keep shooting. baseball, i'm going to rip the band aid off the skap. shortstop brandon crawford has reportedly agreed to a deal with the cardinals. the pleasanton native played a 13-season career with the giants, winning four gold gloves and two world series titles. but was not expected to return to san francisco after last season, and this solidified it. now, i've been around top teams in the nation, it's not very common, i mean it's not very often. anyway, this gave me an opportunity. the number one high school team in the nation scorched earth rolled up a record of 28-0 against some of the country's top teams. won the last 21 games by 20 or more points. and today we got

to peek behind the curtain. got to practice as they prepared to have a run toward the open division state title. they rolled to another ccs championship, winning four games by an average of 41 points. andhorse running the show? legendary hall of fame coach stu phillips. i asked her about getting another state banner up in the gym. >> there's a reason why the state banners are bigger. a little bit harder to get. and yes --. >> been a little while, right? >> yes. the open division championship is not here, but that doesn't define our success. and it'll happen. i don't know when. this team has been through the wringer and has had some really incredible wins. we now sit at 28-0. >> 28-0. when that comes out of my mouth, how do you respond? 28-0. >> i smile. that's how i respond. all right, no whistle needed, this coach has command in the 30 some odd years as coach. six state titles. and she didn't learn this out of a

book, she played. at archbishop, came back and has run the show. she's got top level players that have some dog in them. tough and gritty. >> if you're not impressed with that, nothing impresses you, vern, thank you so much. the squatting nightmare inside a ho

every so often you hear about squatters taking over multimillion dollar mansions in l.a., trashing them, holding parties, but the people who squatted in one hollywood hills mansion went beyond that. they rented the place out, installed their own mailbox, and the realtor told lauren posen they turned it into a studio to shoot x-rated content. >> reporter: uninvited guests turned this hollywood mansion for sale upside down. we blurred this woman's face because she hasn't been charged with a crime. realtor emily randall smith couldn't believe her eyes.

>> it was a whole thing they had operated to completely take control over the house and make it their own. >> reporter: when she and her husband went to get the seven-bedroom home ready for an open hos, she says the lock box was cut off and a new mailbox was put up. >> my husband was on high alert. he's very masculine, protective, was like, stay here, i'm going to walk around the house and look. so yeah, that's when we -- he saw the guy. >> reporter: the man she says was in one of the bedrooms. they called 911, but when lapd got there, the man wouldn't leave. so they waited until he did and called police back again. that's when they learned what was going on for at least two weeks when a woman answered the door for police. >> she said that she was renting from the guy who actually was like the whole ringleader in the thing. and she was hired to do only fans content in there. >> reporter: police escorted her out with her bags packed. randall smith went inside and saw for the first time the destruction done to the home. >> they had, you know, dismantled all the beds. they had cut all the wires in the

house. we had a security system, they cut it. >> reporter: this isn't the first time squatters have targeted empty mansions. last august trespassers destroyed a multimillion tlar home in the hollywood hill, and squatters turned this $4.5 million mansion in beverly hills into a party palace, claiming they were raising money following the october 7th hamas attack. >> a lot of people want to live this luxury lifestyle, but they don't have the money to afford it in a way, and so they fake it. >> reporter: while the home is more secure now than before, randall smith says she still hasn't been able to shake how violated the situation has made her feel. >> it was a place that we've been so frequently. we know all the rooms. and to see someone that was unfamiliar in a space that we know so much was very scary. >> neighbors also started complaining about loud parties once the squatter took over the mansion. okay, you've heard the phrase caught with your hand in the cookie jar. this dog lived it except it wasn't her paw, it was her

- it's so fun to watch jessica in this space. - this is a look at those clouds right now in real-time, but let's head underneath this cloud layer and take a look at our rainfall... - [narrator] the virtual view studio, part of "morning edition." weekday mornings starting at 5 on kpix.

a lot of dogs are treat motivated, as you know. >> yes. >> i'm treat motivated. >> i know that as well. >> i identify with that. >> this dog in the central valley was no different than all of us, but gray see's quest for a cookie put her in a bad spot. gracie's head got stuck in the bucket. gracie 's

owner is homeless, the dog had been walking around with the buck et on its head for weeks. it was an emergency because the dog obviously could not eat like that. >> or drink water. >> oh my gosh. >> they had to make a plan to follow her and set up traps. and they got her. >> to entice her, we went ahead and did a crock pot with chicken in it at the far end so the smell was there. >> it's hard to say how he survived it. i mean, being without food is not good, but being without water is much worse. and that's how you get dehydrated. it's harder on your system. >> so the miraculously good news is that she was fine. aside from the dehydration with her owner's permission she is being found a new, permanent home. >> oh, look at that face. >> what a sweet face. >> oh my gosh. >> i'm so glad she's okay.

poor baby. what would you do if you saw that? >> try to help her. >> you would stop