The crash occurred just after a small plane took off from Crystal Airport north of Minneapolis, and it killed North Dakota state Rep. Liz Conmy and the pilot, authorities said Saturday. Officers in Brooklyn Park responded to reports of a crash at 11:51 a.m., according to Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Matt Rabe, and they found an aircraft that had crashed and caught fire in a park in the city of Brooklyn Park. The Federal Aviation Administration said there were two people aboard.
Rabe said the plane crashed shortly after taking off and declined to say how many people were on board when he spoke with reporters. The FAA’s statement, however, gave the on-board count as two, matching the number of fatalities reported in the initial accounts. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash and that investigators were expected to arrive at the scene soon.
Investigators said the plane involved was a Beech F33A. The NTSB’s role is to determine what happened in the crash, including factors related to the aircraft and flight operations, as part of the federal investigation process.
A North Dakota state Sen. Tim Mathern told the Star Tribune that Conmy was killed in the crash. The North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party also confirmed Conmy’s death in a social media post, describing her as a champion for public education, the environment, and transparency.
In an X post attributed to the party, the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party said, “We are completely heartbroken and gutted by the loss of Representative Liz Conmy. Her death is a profound loss for our state,” calling the lawmaker’s death a major loss for the state. Conmy, of Fargo, was among North Dakota’s elected lawmakers.
As of Saturday, local and federal officials were still working to piece together the timeline of the flight and the circumstances of the crash. The investigation by the NTSB and the FAA statement about the number of people aboard were among the first official details released following the incident.