Officials reported that a 46-year-old man from Arizona died in a skydiving accident over the weekend following a “hard landing” when his parachute failed to open. The incident occurred just a week after another parachutist’s death in the same vicinity.
Authorities discovered Shawn Bowen of Gilbert, Arizona, deceased due to injuries sustained during the landing near Hanna and Tweedy Road. The Eloy Police Department responded to reports of a parachutist having a “hard landing.”
Bowen jumped around 11:40 a.m. using “a wingsuit-type apparatus,” police said, citing preliminary information.
“During freefall, for reasons that remain unknown at this time, his parachute did not deploy, resulting in fatal impact,” police said.
Additionally, Ann Wick, a 55-year-old individual from Minnesota, passed away while skydiving at Skydive Arizona on January 24 in Eloy. Police indicated that she encountered complications during the descent.
Skydive Arizona said at the time that eyewitness accounts indicated the free fall phase of Wick’s skydive appeared normal, with the parachute deploying as expected. Despite the parachute deploying fully as designed, observers noted the “canopy was turning,” the company said.
The witnesses told the company the parachutist did not appear to take corrective actions, and a reserve parachute was not deployed.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
