Daniel Wolfram
A live pregame tribute turned to tragedy moments before kickoff in front of 23,000 stunned fans at the Alamodome in Texas.
Inside the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, more than 23,000 fans had packed the arena for a college football clash between Navy and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) on Saturday.
The game between Navy and UTSA was preparing to get underway while pregame festivities were hyping up the crowd.
But moments before kickoff, a live aerial tribute honoring military veterans took a horrifying turn that led to a gruesome death.
Horrifying scenes
Three service members prepared to rappel roughly 170 feet down from the indoor arena ceiling toward the turf. One of them plummeted at excessive speed before he could stop his momentum.
Spectator Adrian Corey captured the descent on his phone and later described the chaotic scene to local ABC News affiliate KSAT: “Once the band started playing, there was a guy that fell down.” He added that the falling airman “started coming down fast.”
Emergency crews raced onto the field immediately. San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Joe Arrington told ABC News that first responders were dispatched around 7 p.m. local time after receiving emergency calls about a severe fall.
Paramedics rushed the critically injured airman to a nearby hospital, but medical staff could not save his life. He died from the injuries suffered upon hitting the ground.
Panic in the stands
It has been confirmed that the fallen serviceman was Sergeant Ian Patterson. Based in Nevada at Nellis Air Force Base, he was assigned to the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, a base spokesperson announced in a public statement.
The fatal accident stunned the stadium. Witnesses in the bleachers looked on in disbelief as the celebratory atmosphere vanished instantly. Behind the scenes, campus staff scrambled to assist traumatized fans.
“Everybody was quiet; the band stopped performing,” Corey said. However, the game went on as scheduled after the delay.
In a statement to ESPN, campus officials encouraged anyone who witnessed the serviceman falling to call the university crisis line. “Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the soldier who was affected, his family and his military colleagues,” the UTSA spokesperson said.
The official added, “We recognize that members of our campus community may be emotionally affected by this incident and are activating wellbeing services to support our faculty, staff and students.”
