A small In the quiet hours of the night, a peaceful, tree-lined street in a San Diego neighborhood was suddenly thrown into chaos when a small jet clipped a power line and crashed, igniting vehicles and sending panicked residents fleeing through smoke and confusion.
A small The aircraft—a Cessna 550 business jet—had been attempting to land despite poor weather conditions. According to air traffic control audio captured by LiveATC.net, the pilot had acknowledged the challenging weather but decided to proceed.
A small “I just want to see what I’m in for here,” the pilot said while inquiring about visibility at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport. The airport’s automated weather system had been out of service for over a day, so the controller relayed information from a nearby location—reporting just half a mile of visibility and a cloud ceiling at 200 feet.
A small There was no indication of any malfunction, and no emergency was declared. However, pilots are only permitted to descend to a minimum of 673 feet to assess weather conditions visually. The plane, according to ADS-B Exchange tracking data, had descended to just 500 feet—well below the minimum. It’s unclear whether the pilot was aware of how low they were flying.
A small Moments later, the plane struck power lines and crashed into nearby homes.
A small Officials confirmed that six people were on board. When asked if any had survived, San Diego Fire Assistant Chief Dan Eddy responded, “I don’t know on that point, but no, I don’t believe so.”
Two were treated for minor injuries at the scene, while six others were hospitalized.
Emergency crews rushed through dense fog, racing to contain the flames. The plane’s impact sparked a series of fires after spilling fuel across the street and striking a home. Debris littered the area.
Firefighters went door to door, urging half-asleep families to evacuate—parents clutching babies, neighbors helping one another through the chaos.
When he looked outside, he saw a “fireball going down the street.” As his wife grabbed their children and dogs, he ran to assist the family whose home had taken the direct hit.
Another resident described opening his front door just as a neighbor’s car exploded.
My wife and I, we’re in our underwear. We just walk out,” he said. “We ended up helping a few neighbors get out. That’s all that we could do.”
The crash left a charred trail in its wake—devastating a community in a matter of minutes and leaving behind haunting images of destruction.
“I woke up thinking it was an earthquake,” a nearby resident told CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL. “My kids woke up too. My entire front yard was on fire. We were trapped inside and couldn’t get out.”
By Thursday afternoon, as the scale of destruction became clearer, officials surveyed the remnants of a home shredded by the impact. Amid burned-out vehicles lay a yellow body bag—a stark and somber symbol of the crash’s human cost.
Remarkably, none of the fatalities were among the neighborhood’s residents, said Assistant Fire Chief Dan Eddy.
“It’s a miracle,” Eddy noted. “When I arrived on scene, I didn’t expect the outcome we ended up with. I don’t know exactly how they got out, but I do know their neighbors helped them escape—and that’s what I love about this neighborhood. The military community looks out for each other. They did exactly that.”
Among the victims was David Shapiro, cofounder of the Sound Talent Group, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office. Shapiro was known for representing some of the biggest names in punk, hard rock, and indie music worldwide.
Shapiro, who held a pilot’s license, owned the jet through his company “Daviator LLC,” according to FAA records.
Also killed in the crash was 25-year-old Emma Huke, an employee of Sound Talent Group, the medical examiner confirmed. A third employee from the agency also perished, though their name has not yet been released, according to the Associated Press.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed her death, and her father, Bryan Charles Feldman, shared a statement on behalf of the family.
Celina was remembered as “an amazing mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, partner, and friend.” She had chosen to take a late-night private flight home to San Diego instead of a commercial one so she could arrive early and take her daughter to school the next morning.
Feldman added that Celina’s deep compassion for others and the planet was central to who she was.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said he found it difficult to convey the devastation his teams witnessed upon arriving at the crash site.
“It’s hard to put into words what we saw—jet fuel running through the streets, everything engulfed in flames.
Video taken shortly after the crash showed parents clutching their children as they ran through thick spray from fire hoses, trying to escape the flames. Panicked pets, including dogs, could be seen fleeing with them.
The San Diego Humane Society reported that it has taken in 36 animals from families affected by the crash. The rescued pets include dogs, at least one cat, five geckos, and even a 20-gallon aquarium. Some animals were given decontamination baths by the group’s medical staff to remove traces of jet fuel.
Officials also revealed that weather and lighting systems at the airport had been out of service prior to the crash.
Eliott Simpson, a senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said the agency is actively documenting the crash site and plans to relocate the wreckage to a secure facility by Saturday.
According to Simpson, the jet had departed Teterboro, New Jersey, late Wednesday around 11:15 p.m. and made a scheduled fuel stop in Wichita, Kansas, before ultimately crashing in San Diego.
Dan Baker, the lead investigator for the NTSB, revealed at a Friday press briefing that two key systems were not functioning before the crash occurred.
An automated weather reporting system at the destination airport had malfunctioned, forcing the pilot and air traffic controllers to rely on alternate weather data from a nearby airport four miles away, including visibility, wind speed, and cloud cover.
In addition, the runway’s lighting system was inoperative, as noted in a pre-flight advisory issued to pilots.
Baker added that the aircraft was not fitted with a flight data recorder, and while maintenance logs indicate it could support a cockpit voice recorder, investigators are still trying to confirm whether one was on board and operational at the time of the crash.
During a Thursday news conference, San Diego Fire Assistant Chief Dan Eddy reflected on the emotional toll of the incident.
“My heart goes out to the families affected by this tragedy,” he said. “Seeing the aftermath—whether you were directly involved or just a bystander—this is something people will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”