Neighbors gathered near a Clairemont home Thursday to remember two people that were killed when a plane crashed into the home's backyard, engulfing both in flames.
The home was still lined with police tape from the crash on Saturday. That night, four people took off in a six-seat single-engine 1995 Beechcraft Bonanza from Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego.
Four minutes later, the plane skidded through a schoolyard fence and into the home located on Chandler Avenue.
That is where about 50 neighbors gathered Thursday evening, many of which wee still grieving themselves from the shocking event.
"You can expect anything to happen on the streetcar accident, train accident — but you can never think that something from the sky is going to drop on you," neighbor Abe Bejjani said.
The plane crash killed the father of four, Dr. Mike Zareski, and the father of three, Robert Sterling, instantly.
Sterling's wife, Dawn, and the plane's pilot, who has not been identified, survived.
Zareski was a well-known veterinarian at the Western Veterinary Group in Torrance.
Dawn Stelling owns an animal hospital in Southhampton, New York, according to the family's acquaintance Gil Flanagan.
Local
Zareski and the Stellings were in San Diego for a veterinary convention.
The plane was owned by Altitude Aviation Inc. in Hermosa Beach, California. A spokesperson for the company responded to NBC 7’s request for comment stating, “The NTSB and FAA are working on the investigation.”
