TAYLORVILLE -- Neighbors are still shocked after a plane carrying skydivers crashed in a Taylorville neighborhood.
It happened shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday -- less than two miles away from Taylorville's airport. All 12 skydivers jumped to safety before the plane went down.
But the plane flown by Brandon Sparrow, 30, of Augusta took a nosedive into a backyard. Now neighbors are calling him a hero.
"He could've bailed if he wanted to," said witness John Belk. "He stayed with the plane, and only thing I can figure is maybe he was trying to go another block and a half to get to an empty field. When he saw he couldn't make it, he just put it down."
A preliminary autopsy report says sparrow died of injuries sustained from the crash.
