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Pilot Killed After Plane Crashes In Eden Prairie Parking Lot

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Authorities say one person is dead after a small plane crashed in a parking lot in the west Twin Cities metro Wednesday morning.

Eden Prairie police and fire responded to the crash at about 11:08 a.m.

Police were notified of a pilot who was airborne reporting a fire on board. Authorities say it was a small, single-engine aircraft and it crashed near Eden Prairie Road and Glory Lane.

The location was in a wooded area in the parking lot of Resurrection Life Church.

eden prairie plane crash
(credit: CBS)

A spokesperson with the city of Eden Prairie said the pilot was killed in the crash and was the lone occupant of the plane. The pilot has not been identified.

Trying to be positive, Roxanne Neuharth -- who lives near the crash site -- shrugged off the strange sounds she was hearing outside Wednesday morning.

"That's the worst thing to think, so I didn't," she said. "We're right in the flight path of the airport."

With dozens of planes passing by each day, she thought it strange when a small plane seemed to be circling near the church. She didn't hear a crash, but it was what she didn't hear anymore that alarmed her.

"It just disappeared. I didn't know what happened," Neuharth said. "It could've been my house. Like I said, they go over every morning and it's a lot of neighbors there."

The Eden Prairie Police Department is being assisted at the scene by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, Federal Aviation Administration, Minnesota State Patrol, Hennepin County Crime Lab, National Transportation Safety board and Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

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