A North Dakota lawmaker was among those killed when a small plane crashed Sunday near the Crystal Airport, north of the Twin Cities metro.
State representative Liz Conmy was in her first term representing North Dakota's 11th district, which covers the central part of Fargo.
"She's a person with a zest for life. She was both a college professor and a farmer. We're going to miss her a lot," said North Dakota state Senator Tim Mathern who talked with WCCO-TV.
Conmy received her masters degree at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
"She grew up with politics, and then she took it into action herself," Mathern added.
Also killed in the crash was the pilot, Dr. Joseph Cass. He's a retired Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon.
The North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, an affiliate of the national Democratic Party, confirmed Conmy’s death in a social media post, calling her a champion for public education, the environment, and transparency.
“We are completely heartbroken and gutted by the loss of Representative Liz Conmy. Her death is a profound loss for our state,” the party said in a post on X.
Officials are trying to find out why the plane crashed shortly after take-off. The National Transportation Safety Board is on the ground here in Minnesota conducting an investigation.
Officers responded to a report of a small airplane crash at 11:51 a.m. and found an aircraft that had crashed and caught fire in a park in the city of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, shortly after taking off, Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Matt Rabe said.
Rabe wouldn’t say how many people were on the plane. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that two people were aboard.
