Officials say an airplane crashed into a home in the D.C. suburbs this morning.
According to the Associated Press, the crashed happened in Gaithersburg, Md. just before 11 a.m. The Associated Press adds that Montgomery County Fire and Rescue was unable to confirm any injuries or deaths. It also remains unknown whether or not the home was occupied at the time of the crash.
NBC Washington adds that two homes are on fire, while another suffered heavy damage. Montgomery County Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer told them that "several" homes sustained damage. NBC Washington also notes that the crash took place mere miles from where Montgomery County Airpark is located.
UPDATE: The FAA told NBC Washington that the plane has been identified as an Embraer EMB-500/Phenom 100 twin-engine jet. The number of people aboard is still unknown at this time.
UPDATE #2: Piringer told the Associated Press that at least three people traveling aboard the plane died in the crash. He added that there may have been a fourth passenger, as well. The private jet crashed into one home, leaving it and two others in flames. Emergency responders had under control in about an hour.
The Associated Press reports that investigators are being dispatched to the scene by the National Transportation Safety Board.
UPDATE #3: Officials say that three residents remain unaccounted for.
UPDATE #4: The Associated Press reports that the three unaccounted residents were killed:
Authorities quickly said three people in the plane had been killed but it took hours for them to sweep the home and confirm that three people were inside when the plane crashed. They were later identified as a woman and her two sons, a month-old infant and a 3-year-old, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
He would only identify them by their last name: Gemmell.
Neighbors and property records identify the home's residents as Ken and Marie Gemmell.
[via Associated Press and NBC Washington]
