Plane crashes in California parking lot; all 5 onboard killed

An airplane crashed in a strip mall parking lot in Santa Ana, California, on Sunday, killing all five people onboard. It was en route to nearby John Wayne Airport from Buchanan Field Airport in Concord, according to The Associated Press.

What happened?

The Cessna 414 took a nosedive after its pilot, Scott Shepard, declared an emergency landing around 12:30 p.m. local time. A parked car was destroyed when the aircraft went down outside a busy shopping center, but the vehicle was unoccupied at the time, the AP reported.

Capt. Tony Bommarito of the Orange County Fire Authority said the accident could have been much worse. He said it appeared that the plane "went down pretty abruptly," and added that while the plane leaked jet fuel, it didn't ignite.

"Nobody on the ground was injured, so I don't know anything about what this pilot did or what he was thinking, but it could have been much more tragic," he told CBS. "This is a Sunday afternoon, and we have people shopping, so the fact that there are no injuries on the ground is a miracle in itself."

Speaking to the New York Times, Bommarito said, "If [the pilot] did do anything that prevented him from going anywhere else that was more crowded, he did a great job. Unfortunately, it was tragic that five people died on the plane."

A group of firefighters happened to be eating lunch across the street when the plane hit and were able to reach the site in less than a minute.

The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Dashcam footage showing the moments before the vessel went down was released Monday.



Who were the passengers?

All of the passengers on the plane were employees of Pacific Union International, a real estate company out of Danville, California. The victims, in addition to pilot Scott Shepard, 53, were identified as Lara Shepard, 42, the wife of the pilot; real estate agent Nasim Ghanadan, 29; and another married couple, Floria Hakimi, 62, and Navid Hakimi, 32.

Pacific Union CEO Mark McLaughlin told NBC, "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the news of this tragedy. Our entire Pacific Union family is mourning the loss of our colleagues, family and friends."