CHICAGO — An Army parachutist who underwent surgery Saturday after being involved in a collision during the Air and Water show has died, officials say.
The parachutist with the Golden Knights team, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner as 32-year-old Corey Hood, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial hospital at 4:05 p.m. Sunday.
Two military parachute jumpers were injured around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, with one landing on the beach and one landing in the 1400 block of North Lake Shore Drive.
NBC5 reported that the two parachutists, one with the Army Golden Knights and one with the Navy Leap Frogs team, collided mid-air while performing a "bomb burst" movement in which they "circle each other a red smoke swirls around them." The Navy parachutist who landed on the beach was not critically injured.
Army Golden Knights spokeswoman Donna Dixon confirmed to DNAinfo Chicago Saturday that a Golden Knights parachutist was undergoing surgery after an "incident." Witnesses reported that the parachutist "clipped" a building in the 1400 block of North Lake Shore Drive.
Dixon told the Tribune that Hood had surgery to relieve pressure in his brain caused by a head injury.
Heather Mendenhall told Tribune she was watching the show from a rooftop and saw Hood strike the roof of a high-rise building next door with his feet and then fall. "His legs caught the tip of the roof, and then he fell over. It was horrible," she said.
Sergeant First Class Corey Hood hailed from Cincinnati, Ohio, and had been with the Army Golden Knights for about 16 months, according to a video interview posted to YouTube.
He was an Airborne Forward Observer for the 14-member Black Team of the Army Golden Knights, which he said required "a pretty long process" in which applicants will take 150 to 200 jumps before being selected.
In the video, posted in November 2014, Hood said he enlisted in the army when he was 17, just out of high school. When asked how he felt to be performing on Veterans Day, he said, "It's just can honor and it's very humbling. I probably would have never guessed it would happen to me 15 years ago."
According to his Army profile, he had served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and been awarded two Bronze Stars, two Meritorious Service Medals and a host of other awards. He began jumping in 2010 and had logged more than 500 free fall jumps and 75 military static line jumps.
Army spokeswoman Donna Dixon did not respond to multiple requests for comment Sunday.
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