Colorado family looking for answers after military helicopter crashes near their property

A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter went down in Colorado earlier this week, and a family who lives in a nearby home is now searching for answers.

Jessica Gregg lives on a property in Gilpin County near where the incident occurred. She says she loves living in the mountains for two reasons.

"Quiet. Generally very quiet, which is what I love," said Gregg. "Also, what I love so much about this is my neighborhood. Amazing community."

On Tuesday, that quiet was disrupted when a Black Hawk helicopter went down very close to her property. An Army spokesperson referred to the incident as an "aviation mishap" that happened during a training operation. She was at a meeting in Golden when the crash happened, but her community was quick to alert her.

"I looked at my phone, and it was just full of messages and voicemails and phone calls, missed phone calls saying, 'Hey, I was outside, and I just saw a Black Hawk hit your property, and there was a big puff of black smoke,'" said Gregg.

She rushed home.

"I found the sheriff and the police chief were already up there. And people, I don't know which agency, were pulling equipment off of the helicopter and putting it into a Jeep," said Gregg.

None of the people on the helicopter were hurt in the crash, but still, she says she knew immediately it was serious.

"[Timberline Fire Protection District] Chief Ondr said, 'Hey, there has been an accident. This is classified. You need to leave,'" said Gregg.

And to this day, that's pretty much all she knows, but she has a lot of questions that aren't being answered. For example, she has been told there was a fuel spill, which, if true, concerns her.

"This is Deer Creek. It's the start of the Ralston watershed that goes down into Denver," said Gregg, motioning to a creek that runs through her property.

And she is concerned about who will pay for the damage to her private road caused by military vehicles driving up and down while guarding the wreckage.

"This recycled concrete up here we just put in, about a month ago, and they've completely torn it up," said Gregg.

Plus, she wants to be able to enjoy her property and privacy as she used to.

"They are sleeping up there and staying up there and guarding it with full weapons, etc., back there. Every time we run into them, you know, they've confronted us to not go very far," said Gregg.

Gregg says she has reached out to the Army, but they haven't given her any answers other than what they have told the media. Saturday, she says the sheriff told her she is now on lockdown for tree removal and, eventually, the removal of the Black Hawk next week. Gregg says she hopes this will all be over sooner rather than later.

"As of this point, I just have, like, a military occupation on my property," said Gregg.