An American court sentences an Afghan to 20 years in prison for supporting ISIS in Afghanistan. A news helicopter crashes in Los Angeles, killing three.

On Wednesday, a US federal court sentenced an Afghan man to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of providing material support to the ISIS branch in Afghanistan, the group responsible for a suicide bombing that killed more than 180 people at Kabul airport in 2021.

A jury in the Alexandria District Court in the Washington suburbs concluded in April that Muhammad Sharifullah, a member of ISIS-K, was guilty of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

But it reached a dead end after two days of deliberations regarding his supposed involvement in the suicide bombing at the airport.

The Public Prosecution sought to convict Sharifullah of involvement in the Kabul airport attack that killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 American soldiers.

On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the maximum penalty imposed on Sharif Allah, which is 20 years imprisonment, which was what the Public Prosecution had requested.

The defense team for Sharif Allah had called for a 17-year sentence, based in particular on his secondary role within ISIS, in addition to the harsh conditions of his detention in Afghanistan and then in Pakistan.

In a speech to Congress last year, President Donald Trump called Sharifullah “the primary terrorist responsible” for the Kabul airport attack.

The Public Prosecution says that Sharifullah reconnoitred the road leading to the airport, where the suicide bomber later detonated his device amid crowds trying to flee days after the Taliban took over Kabul.

The United States withdrew its last soldiers from Afghanistan in August 2021, in a chaotic operation that lasted more than two weeks and included the evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans who flocked to the airport hoping to leave the country.

Pakistan extradited Sharifullah to the United States in March 2025, and he was tried in the city of Alexandria, on the outskirts of the American capital.

US authorities say that Sharif Allah was involved in a number of ISIS-Khorasan attacks from 2016 until his arrest in Pakistan in 2025.

These attacks included a suicide bombing in June 2016 targeting Nepalese guards for the Canadian Embassy in Kabul.

Sharifullah was accused of conducting reconnaissance operations and transporting the bomber to the attack site. He was also accused of giving instructions on the use of weapons to Khorasan Province militants who attacked Crocus City Hall near Moscow in March 2024.

A news helicopter belonging to the networks NBC 4 Los Angeles and Telemundo 52 crashed in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday evening while covering a fatal collision between a Metro bus and another vehicle, killing three people who were on board the helicopter or near the site of its crash.

Reuters said that the accident resulted in the death of journalist and aerial photographer Eliana Moreno and pilot Jorge Marcinho, who were employees of Angel City Air, which was operating the helicopter, in addition to a third person who was present on the ground. The Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that two more people were taken to the hospital.

The crash occurred in the Chatsworth area, northwest of Los Angeles, just before seven o'clock in the evening local time, while the helicopter was participating in covering a traffic accident that occurred in the area about two hours ago.

The helicopter crashed while covering a fatal bus accident

According to NBC, the helicopter, known as NewsChopper4, was providing aerial coverage of an accident that occurred at the intersection of Nordhof and De Soto Streets, where a Metro bus collided with a sport utility vehicle.

NBC said that the bus accident occurred after five in the evening, and, according to its latest update, resulted in the death of three people and the injury of six others, while firefighters worked to rescue people stuck inside the vehicles.

Reuters reported in its initial report that the bus accident resulted in the deaths of at least two people, a number that was circulating in the first hours before local information was updated.

The helicopter was one of several news helicopters in the area to cover the bus accident, according to NBC.

Ileana Moreno and Jorge Marcinho are among the victims

NBC mourned journalist and aerial photographer Eliana Moreno and pilot Jorge Marcinho.

Born in Orange County, Moreno graduated from Chapman University in 2010 with degrees in broadcast journalism and political science, and joined Angel City Air's helicopter team the same year, she said. She also worked for a number of media organizations in Southern California.

As for Marcinho, he grew up in Southern California, graduated from Burbank High School in 1974, and began flying with Moreno in 2023.

The Guardian reported that Moreno was an aerial photographer, and that she and Marcinho had been working together since 2023.

“We lost contact.” The moment the helicopter crash was announced on the air

NBC 4 announced the news of the crash during a live broadcast on Tuesday evening, after the station lost contact with its team on board the helicopter.

Anchor Colleen Williams said during the broadcast that the station knew it had lost contact with its colleagues, before receiving confirmation that “NewsChopper4” had crashed in Chatsworth shortly before 7 p.m.

Williams paused during the broadcast for a few moments to process the impact of the news, while the station described the loss of Moreno and Marcinho as the loss of two close colleagues.

Lynette Romero, co-anchor of the NBC 4 morning show, also said that the staff at the station “feel sad,” noting that Moreno and Marcinho loved covering breaking news and working on board the helicopter.

Eyewitness: The helicopter gradually began to lose altitude

NBC Muse quoted eyewitness Zareh Sivanisyan as saying that he saw the helicopter moving in an abnormal manner before it began to lose altitude.

The witness said that he noticed that the helicopter was gradually descending, before a violent fire broke out after it fell, describing the scene as one of the most violent fires he had seen.

According to the network, the helicopter crashed in a parking lot near a self-storage facility, and the fire spread to vehicles parked there.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said the helicopter went down at a location in the 9100 block of North Mason Street in Chatsworth.

According to NBC, the plane crashed between two commercial buildings, while photos and videos at the accident site showed major damage and a fire that spread to nearby vehicles.

Reuters reported that more than 70 firefighters participated in responding to the accident, and were able to quickly control the fire that broke out at the crash site.

Eliana Moreno... She loved the profession and was preparing for marriage

NBC Los Angeles highlighted the career of Moreno, who began working with Angel City Air's helicopter team in September 2010.

The New York Post also reported that Moreno was 38 years old, and that she was known through her social media accounts as “Eli in the Heli,” and that she had talked about her work as an air correspondent as “the best job in the world.”

The newspaper added that in 2022, it received an award from the Digital Radio and Television News Association for its aerial coverage of a fatal accident in Windsor Hills.

The New York Post noted that Moreno had announced her engagement to Robert Barrientos in October 2025, and published a photo of them to celebrate the occasion.

The newspaper reported that Moreno was also sharing aspects of her personal life via social media, along with content related to her journalistic work.