Photo: K C Alfred/San Diego Tribune/Shutterstock
Family and co-workers are mourning the loss of a UPS driver who was killed when a small plane crashed in a Southern California city Monday afternoon.
Steve Krueger was a hard worker who “was held in high regard,” a spokesperson for UPS said in a statement to PEOPLE on Tuesday.
The plane, which the Federal Aviation Administration identified as a twin-engine Cessna C340 in a statement shared with PEOPLE, crashed at around 12:14 p.m. PT. The FAA was unable to identify how many people were aboard the aircraft at the time of the crash.
According to updates posted to the Santeecity websiteMonday, the plane “crashed into two residential homes,” also striking a delivery truck and fire hydrant. Witnesses toldNBC San Diegothat the plane’s wing hit a UPS truck and the body of the aircraft then “slid toward two homes and exploded.”
K C Alfred/San Diego Tribune/Shutterstock
Steve’s brother, Jeff Kreuger, told NBC San Diego that the news of his brother’s death was “unbelievable.”
“He is still young — too young to be taken from us,” Jeff said. “But he also had a pretty good chunk of life and so he’d want everybody to be thinking of him in a positive light, laugh about it, and all that. That’s just the way he is.”
The Ocean Beach resident said his brother was always reminding him that “things will always get better and don’t take life so serious that it gets you down. Have fun with things.”
According to NBC San Diego, UPS coordinated a moment of silence for Steve at 12:14 p.m. on Tuesday, marking 24 hours since his tragic death. The company also reportedly flew a flag outside the customer service center in Kearny Mesa at half-staff in his honor.
source: people.com
