logo
‘It's just like an emptiness': Friends and teammates remember victim of deadly plane crash

‘It's just like an emptiness': Friends and teammates remember victim of deadly plane crash

Yahoo24-05-2025
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — On Friday, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office identified three of the passengers killed in Thursday morning's plane crash in the Tierrasanta neighborhood.
All three of the identified victims, David Shapiro, Emma Huke, and Celina Kenyon, reportedly died of multiple blunt force injuries in the tragedy.
Another victim, Dominic Damian, has been identified by his fellow athletes at The Training Center in Pacific Beach.
Since 2007, Baret Yoshida would train with Damian as his instructor and said they became friends.
'I learned a lot from him,' Yoshida said, adding that he is working to keep Damian's memory alive.
'It's just like an emptiness, you know,' he said.
Yoshida saidDamian would regularly travel with his friends in the music industry to watch their shows.
'I knew that those were like his best friends,' Yoshida said.
He said he learned Damian was aboard the plane that crashed after Damian's wife messaged him with the news.
'I couldn't believe it was real,' Yoshida said. 'Even now, it's still settling in, you know, because just the other week, we're watching Dom hit home runs over the fence.'
Damian, a black belt and accomplished Jiu Jitsu fighter, won several major awards, including silver and bronze at the World Jiu Jitsu Championships.
'He got to a really high level, and he beat a lot of the best guys in the world,' he said.
Damian would share his knowledge with his fellow trainees.
'He was doing the same thing for almost everybody within the gym, regardless of who they were and where they were from, so he was definitely one of the main mentors for people,' said Byunghon Lee, one of Damian's fellow fighters.
This shocking loss stings for the fighting community.
'This is the place I know I would feel his presence,' Lee said.
Yoshida said his lasting legacy won't be forgotten. The Training Center plans to host an open mat at their location on Memorial Day in honor of Damian.
'I've been thinking about him a lot,' Yoshida said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

NFL players, employees fined for selling Super Bowl tickets: reports
NFL players, employees fined for selling Super Bowl tickets: reports

Yahoo

time24 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

NFL players, employees fined for selling Super Bowl tickets: reports

More than 100 NFL players and dozens of club employees are to be fined or suspended for selling their allocations of tickets for this year's Super Bowl on secondary markets, US media reported on Friday. ESPN reported that players who sold allotted tickets will be fined one-and-a-half times the face value of the tickets sold and be barred from receiving tickets to the next two editions of the Super Bowl. Players amongst those caught will be given the option of purchasing tickets if their team reaches the Super Bowl in 2026 or 2027. Players who decline to pay the fines face being suspended, ESPN cited league and union sources as saying. ESPN quoted an NFL memo sent to teams which said employees and players had sold tickets to "bundlers" working with a ticket resale site. Tickets to the Super Bowl are consistently one of the hottest -- and most expensive -- tickets in North American sport, fetching as much as $10,000 on resale sites. "Our initial investigation has determined that a number of NFL players and coaches, employed by several NFL Clubs, sold Super Bowl tickets for more than the ticket's face value in violation of the policy," NFL chief compliance officer Sabrina Perel wrote in the memo. Perel cited "long-standing league policy" which "prohibits League or club employees, including players, from selling NFL game tickets acquired from their employer for more than the ticket's face value or for an amount greater than the employee originally paid for the ticket, whichever is less." Perel added that the league will enhance mandatory training before Super Bowl LX for all league personnel to emphasize the rules and "the broader principle that no one should profit personally from their NFL affiliation at the expense of our fans." The league, meanwhile, also planned to improve training to avoid a repeat, with the possibility of stiffer sanctions for future offenses. "No one should profit personally from their NFL affiliation at the expense of our fans," Perel wrote in the memo. rcw/js

Disgraced former US Rep. George Santos reports to NJ federal prison to serve 7-year fraud sentence
Disgraced former US Rep. George Santos reports to NJ federal prison to serve 7-year fraud sentence

CNN

time26 minutes ago

  • CNN

Disgraced former US Rep. George Santos reports to NJ federal prison to serve 7-year fraud sentence

Disgraced former Rep. George Santos reported to a federal prison in New Jersey on Friday to begin serving a seven-year sentence for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress. The federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the New York Republican was in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, in southern New Jersey. Santos pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people's identities in order to fund his congressional campaign. Lawyers for Santos didn't respond to phone and email messages seeking comment. The ever-online Santos, who turned 37 years old on Tuesday, hosted a farewell party for himself on the social media platform X on Thursday night. 'Well, darlings … The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed,' he wrote in a post afterwards. 'From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it's been! Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried … most days.' In a Thursday interview with Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-owned news organization, Santos said he'll serve his sentence in a minimum-security prison 'camp' that he described as a 'big upgrade' from the medium-security lockup he was initially assigned to. In April, a federal judge declined to give Santos a lighter two-year sentence that he sought, saying she was unconvinced he was truly remorseful. In the weeks before his sentencing, Santos said he was 'profoundly sorry' for his crimes, but he also complained frequently that he was a victim of a political witch hunt and prosecutorial overreach. Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a wealthy district representing parts of Queens and Long Island for the GOP. But he served for less than a year and became just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues after it was revealed he had fabricated much of his life story. During his winning campaign, Santos painted himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms when, in reality, he was struggling financially. He also falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a college he never attended and referred to himself as 'a proud American Jew' before insisting he meant that he was 'Jew-ish' because his Brazilian mother's family had a Jewish background. The cascade of lies eventually led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how Santos funded his campaign and, ultimately, his political downfall. Since his ouster from Congress, Santos has been making a living hosting a podcast called 'Pants on Fire with George Santos' and hawking personalized video messages on Cameo. He has also been holding out hope that his unwavering support for President Donald Trump might help him win a last-minute reprieve. The White House said this week that it 'will not comment on the existence or nonexistence' of any clemency request. In media appearances this month, the former lawmaker wasn't shy about sharing his morbid fears about life behind bars. 'I'm not trying to be overdramatic here. I'm just being honest with you. I look at this as practically a death sentence,' Santos told Tucker Carlson during an interview. 'I'm not built for this.' On social media, his recent musings have sometimes taken a dark turn. 'I'm heading to prison, folks and I need you to hear this loud and clear: I'm not suicidal. I'm not depressed. I have no intentions of harming myself, and I will not willingly engage in any sexual activity while I'm in there,' Santos said on X. 'If anything comes out suggesting otherwise, consider it a lie … full stop.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store