What we know about the plane crash that killed alternative music executive Dave Shapiro
May 24, 2025, 9:13 AM
Debris covers the ground after a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, setting homes and cars on fire and forcing evacuations early Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/William Liang)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A plane crash in San Diego that likely killed six people, including groundbreaking alternative music executive Dave Shapiro, happened as the private plane approached an airport whose runway lights were out in heavy fog, investigators said.
It could take a year to sort out exactly what happened to the plane that crashed into a neighborhood just before 4 a.m. Thursday. But investigators know there was thick fog, problems with the runway lights and a broken weather alert system, Dan Baker of the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Shapiro’s death stunned the heavy metal and hard rock scene that grew out of the punk movement. The music agency he co-founded, Sound Talent Group, represented groups like Pierce The Veil, Parkway Drive, Sum 41 but also ventured into more pop acts like Hanson and Vanessa Carlton.
Also killed were Daniel Williams, a former drummer for the popular Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada as well as two employees of Shapiro’s Sound Talent Group agency: Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25. Authorities have not released information on all the victims.
The plane was headed from New Jersey to San Diego after a fueling stop in Kansas. It crashed about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport. Eight people on the ground were hurt, none seriously.
Initial reports indicated the Cessna 550 Citation may have gone down after hitting power lines, but federal investigators have not confirmed that information.
The pilot of the plane acknowledged to an air traffic controller that the weather was not ideal and debated diverting to a different airport, according to audio of the conversation posted by LiveATC.net.
The Federal Aviation Administration posted an official notice that the runway lights at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport were out. The pilot didn’t discuss that with the controller but did mention he knew the airport’s weather alert system wasn’t working.
“Doesn’t sound great but we’ll give it a go,” he told the air traffic controller.
The fog was so thick around the time of the crash that “you could barely see in front of you,” Assistant San Diego Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said.
Officials have not said who was flying the plane. Shapiro was listed as the plane’s owner and had a pilot’s license.
Shapiro, 42, got into the music industry playing in the band, Count with Stars, he founded with friends while in high school. It was the connections he made more than the music he played that made him successful.
Shapiro helped bring the underground $10-a-show alternative scene in the 2010s to the mainstream. But he also was huge in creating a community, said Mike Shea, founder of “Alternative Press.”
“In this music industry, there are just too many people ripping people off and using people,” he said. “Dave was not like that. He was a beautiful soul, and beautiful person, a guiding force, just someone who would end up being an inspiration.”
Even with all his famous clients, Shapiro stayed warm, genuine and interested in bringing new bands to a wide audience.
“He would listen to any band you put in front of him to give them a chance,” said Dayna Ghiraldi-Travers, founder of public relations agency Big Picture Media, who worked with Shapiro for over 15 years.
The U.S. saw its deadliest plane crash in more than 23 years in January when an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided in Washington. The crash killed every passenger on each aircraft, a total of 67 people.
A sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey last month, killing six people while a small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska in early February, killing all 10 people on board.
In Philadelphia, a medical transport plane that had just taken off plummeted into a neighborhood in late January, killing all six people on board and two people on the ground.
