Officials said two people were killed when an F/A-18 military jet about to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar slammed into a San Diego neighborhood today. The pilot was able to eject safely.

A grandmother and two children who lived in a house that was hit are reported missing, officials said. San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque confirmed that two people were dead, but no further details were available.

Neighbors said they heard sputtering, saw the jet wobbling, and then it crashed, creating a ball of fire. Afterward, neighbors said they saw the pilot wandering around in a daze. He had parachuted out of the jet and landed in the baseball field of nearby University City High School.

Marine officials told The LA Times the pilot was part of a training squadron and that he was trying to aim the plane at a deserted canyon to avoid slamming into homes or the nearby 805 Freeway. He had taken off from the carrier Abraham Lincoln several miles off the coast.  His destination was the air station. Marine Col. Chris O’Connor pledges an in-depth investigation and to see “that the neighborhood is cleaned up as quickly as possible.”

Jason Whidmer, who was working in the neighborhood, talked to the pilot after he ejected and landed.

“He was pretty shook up,” Whitmer said. “And pretty concerned if he had killed anyone. He had seen his bird go into a house.”

(Source: LA Times)