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3 Pacific Union agents killed in Santa Ana plane crash
The small twin-engine aircraft went down in a shopping center
Three Pacific Union International agents were among the five people killed Sunday when their small plane crashed near a shopping center in Santa Ana.
Nasim Ghanadan, Floria Hakimi and Lara Shepherd all worked at a Pacific Union office in Danville, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hakimi’s son, Navid Hakimi, and Shepherd’s husband, Scott Shepherd, also died. Shepherd, who was also a real estate developer, was piloting the Cessna 414 when it went down in a Staples parking lot. Santa Ana is about 30 miles southeast of L.A.
No one on the ground was injured.
“Our entire Pacific Union family is mourning the loss of our colleagues, family and friends,” CEO Mark McLaughlin said in a statement. “Life is precious and we are focused on comforting the loved ones affected by this devastating event.”
The plane, which took off about in Concord, about 400 miles up the coast from Sant Ana, banked low before it nose-dived into the ground, witnesses said. Investigators have yet to determine what caused the crash, the Times reported.
Pacific Union, a San Francisco-based brokerage, is the eighth-largest brokerage by sales volume in the country, according to its website. It has 1,700 agents and staff across 50 offices in Northern and Southern California. [LAT] — Natalie Hoberman