In a pre-game performance on October 21, at the David Crockett High School football game in Jonesborough, Tennessee, spectators witnessed a horrifying incident. The high school football team was just about to play against the Daniel Boone High School.
Right before start of the annual Musket Bowl game, a man fell to his death while performing a skydiving stunt.
Richard Sheffield, 55, an employee of the skydiving company Jump TN, died in front of 100’s of onlookers on the high school football field. He was brought to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
A video was shared on social media that shows the unfortunate skydiver as he fell during the stunt. He spun in a circle and plunged to the ground.
In the video, you can hear hundreds of frightened spectators screaming when they realized something was wrong with either the skydiver or his parachute, as Sheffield fell at a very high speed – way too fast for him to land safely.
One witness, Tyler Smith, told a local news station the accident was shocking and literally out-of-the-blue. The teenager captured the incident on his cell phone. He said everyone around him was shocked as they watched Sheffield fall.
Sheffield was part of a group of paratroopers who entertained at the Musket Bowl event every year.
A spokesperson for Jump TN, Angela Alley, said that Sheffield was an experienced skydiver, and that he had performed more than 1,500 jumps. She said they did not notice anything unusual about Sheffield’s dive on Friday and that Sheffield had deployed the parachute without any issue.
The entire football field held a moment of silence for Sheffield before the game started.
Surprisingly, the game did go on, although delayed.
The school superintendent said they were extremely concerned about the mental well-being of the students who attended Friday’s football game and witnessed the accident. Boyd also said it was unclear if they would continue allowing skydivers to perform at future events.