From the Archives

One woman died after her estranged husband shot her multiple times in the chest before shooting himself the week of March, 22, 2003.

San Mateo police responded to Hillsdale Square Apartments, located at 2727 Edison Ave., at 1:30 p.m. after receiving a 911 call placed by a neighbor, said Lt. Kevin Raffaelli.

Adella Samaniego, 50, was pronounced dead at the scene. Sources say she was shot five times in the chest however police will not confirm or deny that number. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office said she was shot multiple times.

Tirso Banuelos Erena, 60, shot Samaniego in her first floor apartment. Shortly after shooting his wife, police believe Erena shot himself in the chest with a .357 caliber handgun and ran out the building.

Police found Erena directly outside the side entrance door to the building located on 27th Avenue. Erena leaped over a stairway railing and collapsed directly outside the complex. Paramedics attended to him at the bottom of the stairs and then rushed him to Stanford Medical Center.

Ground offensive starts

American and British combat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq the week of March 22, 2003 and bombed limited targets in Baghdad. But military commanders withheld the massive onslaught that would signal all-out war as U.S. officials tried to talk the Iraqi regime into giving up.

Coalition forces suffered their first casualties in a helicopter crash that killed 12 Britons and four Americans.

On the second day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, American officials held out the tantalizing possibility that Saddam had been killed in the initial Wednesday night bombing of Baghdad.

State-run Iraqi television said Saddam survived, and met with his top aides to counter the U.S.-led attack.

Teen center proposal terminated

Despite five months of public appeals and fundraising efforts, proponents of a temporary teen center slated for Burlingame conceded the week of March 22, 2003 that they didn’t have the money to make it happen.

City officials, while acknowledging that such a center would have been an asset to the city’s youth, regretfully responded that the general fund is too strapped to offset the $400,000 needed for maintenance and rent over the next two years.

Last night, the council voted to withdraw from a two-year lease for a 6,000-square-foot building at 783 California Drive. The vote came after the fundraising committee themselves recommended the termination of the contract. A spokesman said they would continue efforts to raise the money. The committee hopes to come back to the council for another attempt in 2004 when they hope to have the majority, if not all the money.

Calling the decision "difficult and painful,” Mayor Mike Coffey commended them for their efforts and said the council will continue supporting them. Councilmember Mary Janney even donated $500.

United Airlines says liquidation possible

United Airlines warned that it could be forced out of business in 2003 if it’s unable to secure deep labor cuts — its bleakest assessment yet of its prospects in bankruptcy.

The world’s No. 2 airline requested in a court filing late Monday that its labor contracts be scrapped unless new agreements can be worked out by the first week of May.

It was one of the company’s first direct acknowledgments that liquidation is a possibility as United struggles to stem its continuing losses in bankruptcy, and attempts to recover at a time of crisis in the airline industry.

From the archives highlights events that occurred five years ago. It appears in the Thursday edition of the Daily Journal.