LA City Councilmember John Lee leads candlelight vigil at Chatsworth parish

Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee and Mayor Karen Bass joined hundreds of people for a candlelight vigil at St. John Eudes Catholic Church to mourn victims of two recent accidents in Chatsworth. Organized with the parish priest, Father Ethan Southard, the gathering at the church patio served as a community event rather than a formal prayer service.

The vigil followed two separate crashes on Sept. 15 in the San Fernando Valley. In the first accident, an SUV struck a Metro bus, killing two passengers. In a second incident, a news helicopter covering the bus crash crashed into a warehouse, killing both people on board and a bystander on the ground.

Attendees expressed personal connections to the victims, who were from Catholic backgrounds. One victim, 46-year-old Daniel Castillo, was a passenger on the Metro bus when a woman allegedly driving under the influence struck the vehicle. Relatives at the vigil noted that Castillo grew up at St. Elisabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in Van Nuys. An investigation into the helicopter crash is ongoing.