All 9 Victims In Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash Have Been Identified
NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed Sunday when their helicopter crashed into a hillside in dense fog in Calabasas, California. The shocking tragedy was so surreal and many are still trying to make sense of it.
The helicopter’s flight path shows it going from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley and then hovering over the Glendale area as it waited for clearance to travel through the Valley to Calabasas. The tracking ends at the crash site in Calabasas.
Authorities have officially released all of the names of the individuals who lost their lives.
Here is a look at the nine people who died in the crash (via CBS News):
Kobe Bryant
An 18-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist who won five NBA championships, Kobe Bryant was the league MVP in 2008 and a two-time NBA scoring champion.
He also won an Academy Award in 2018 for his contributions to “Dear Basketball,” an animated short about his relationship to the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9saQ-4_8Csk
Gianna Bryant
Kobe Bryant’s 13-year old daughter Gianna was among those killed. Gianna — often called “Gigi” — was the second oldest of Bryant’s four daughters. Bryant had coached Gianna’s AAU basketball team out of his Mamba Sports Academy training facility in Thousand Oaks for the past two years.
In 2018, Kobe Bryant told Jimmy Kimmel that his daughter had aspirations to be a pro basketball player. He added that he expected her to carry on her legacy.
#KobeBryant talking about his daughter Gianna’s love for the game of basketball with @jimmykimmel is the most heartbreaking thing I have seen in a long long time pic.twitter.com/NnNFG99WLs
— Nick Fineman (@The_FineMan) January 26, 2020
John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli and Alyssa Altobelli
John Altobelli was the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. His wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa were also on board.
CBS Boston reports Altobelli was a former coach of the Brewster Whitecaps on Cape Cod. Altobelli also managed players who eventually made the big leagues, including Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
Christina Mauser
The husband of Christina Mauser posted on Facebook that she died in the helicopter crash. Mauser was a basketball coach at Harbor Day School in Newport Beach, where Kobe’s daughter attended school.
“I got three small kids, and I’m trying to figure out how to navigate life with three kids and no mom,” Mauser said Monday on the “Today Show.”
Mauser said both he and his wife were close with Bryant. “He saw what an amazing mind [Christina] had for basketball,” Mauser said. “She was an amazing mind of defense for basketball, so he brought her on. They called her the mother of defense, ‘MOD.'”
Sarah Chester and Payton Chester
Sarah Chester and her middle school aged daughter Payton were on also on board. Payton was a teammate of Gianna Bryant’s.
Ara Zobayan
The helicopter was piloted by Ara Zobayan. According to the FAA, he received his commercial pilot certificate in 2007.
The passengers were on their way to a basketball tournament when the chopper went down. The helicopter was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers.
An investigation is still ongoing to determine the cause of the crash.
May all of these beautiful souls rest in peace.
