The world was rocked Sunday morning over the news that NBA icon Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna who died in a tragic helicopter crash, and now an eyewitness has come forward to recall seeing the aircraft as it was coming down and burst into flames. Los Angeles Times staff writer, Richard Winton published an article recounting what he saw as the crash was happening in real time.
“I was sitting at my dining room table Sunday morning when I heard the whir of helicopter blades,” he wrote. “It was a foggy morning, with visibility at less than 60 feet. I looked toward a nearby window in my Calabasas home and heard a massive boom, followed by a few seconds of silence. Then a fireball erupted on a hillside off Las Virgenes Road.”
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Winton continued: “I had no way of knowing the helicopter that had plunged into the Santa Monica Mountains hillside was carrying basketball legend Kobe Bryant, as well as his young daughter Gianna, and this crash would send fans around the nation into mourning.”
“It was 9:52 a.m., and I ventured out onto the street. Visibility was poor,” he went in to share. “Using binoculars, I was able to see the aircraft had been torn apart and was on fire. It turned out the aircraft was a helicopter, and it was scattered in many pieces on the hillside.”
“In the ensuing minutes, a stream of firefighters arrived to tackle the fire,” Winton added. “I was able to make it closer to the crash site, where I saw debris strewn across the hillside, still smoldering. Closer to the scene, I also found others who had witnessed the crash.”
“We all feel a deep sense of loss for what he meant to all of us in so many ways. And so many millions of people loved him for so many different reasons.”
—Pop on the tragic loss of Kobe Bryant pic.twitter.com/XeHcwFnm5C
— ESPN (@espn) January 27, 2020
He also revealed that another eyewitness, 62-year-old Jerry Kocharian, who spoke about what he saw as the helicopter was flying near their neighborhood. “It wasn’t sounding right,” he said. “And it was real low. I saw it falling and spluttering. But it was hard to make out as it was so foggy.”
Concluding his recount, Winton shared. “The craft vanished into the sheet of fog, and then Kocharian heard the boom and saw a fireball.”
“No one could survive that,” Kocharian added.
It wasn’t until sometime later that the two found found out that Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter were among those killed in the crash.
Photo credit: Getty Images
