At approximately 10:45 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 8, a small plane crashed into a neighborhood in Gaithersburg, Md. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue officials have revealed that at least three people on board the plane were killed, along with three people inside one of the houses hit. A total of three homes in the 19700 block of Drop Forge Lane off of Snouffer School Road were damaged. The majority of the damage resulted from the fires that rapidly grew from the site of the crash.

The victims inside the most-damaged home were 36-year-old Marie Gemmell and her two sons, 3-year-old Cole and month-old Devon. Authorities have stated that they believe the residents attempted to protect themselves in a second-floor bathroom after fire rapidly spread around their home, and although their causes of death have not been officially stated, investigators said it was likely due to smoke inhalation.

Gemmell’s husband and 5-year-old daughter survived, as they were not home when the crash occurred. 

“No words can describe the enormity of our loss and sadness over yesterday’s tragedy, we lost Marie, the love of my life and college sweetheart, and our two young, innocent, and joyful sons — a loss that no person should ever endure,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

According to ABC7 News, the plane’s owner and pilot has been identified as Dr. Michael J. Rosenberg, the CEO of North Carolina-based Health Decisions, a clinical research organization. Rosenberg, 52, died in the crash from traumatic injuries, along with passengers David Hartman, 52, and Chijioke Ogbuka, 31.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recognized the plane as an Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100 twin-engine jet. It is unclear what caused the small aircraft to crash, as details are still under investigation by both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The flight began at Horace Williams Airport at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was less than a mile from a Montgomery County airpark when it crashed.

“The plane sliced through the roof of one home, and the main part of the fuselage and the tail landed against a second house. One of the wings ‘catapulted’ into a third house, where the majority of the fire damage occurred,” said  Robert Sumwalt of the NTSB at a news conference.

According to NBC Washington, Montgomery County police closed off access to the scene of the crash. Snouffer School Road between Center Way Road and Goshen Road was shut down as well.

“I think [it’s] a tragedy that innocent children died even before they had a chance to live their lives. I also believe that Dr. Rosenberg’s company should pay the father and the remaining child for their heartbreak as well as [for] the damaged property,” said WJ senior Tae Woo Kim.

It has been speculated by various news sources that birds may have played a part in the unfortunate accident. Birds getting caught in planes engines have led to many crashes before, and ABC7 News stated that there were large numbers of birds reported near the airpark just before the accident occurred.