Travis Barker, Adam Goldstein injured in fatal Learjet crash
The plane was taking off in South Carolina with six people aboard. The musicians are in critical condition. Two crew members and two members of Barker's entourage are killed.
Bret Flashnick / Associated Press
Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein, known as celebrity DJ AM, were critically injured in a fiery Learjet crash in South Carolina that killed four Southern Californians, including Barker's bodyguard and his personal assistant, authorities said.
The pilot, Sarah Lemmon of Anaheim Hills, and copilot, James Bland of Carlsbad, were also killed, according to the Lexington County coroner.
The Learjet was taking off shortly before midnight Friday with six people aboard, when air traffic controllers saw sparks. The plane, which was en route to Van Nuys Airport, veered off the end of the runway, rolled through a fence and crashed on a nearby road, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
Barker and Goldstein were in critical condition at a burn center in Augusta, Ga., about 75 miles southwest of Columbia, hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits said.
Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City, and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles -- both members of Baker's entourage -- were among the dead.
According to music industry sources, Charles "Shea" Still was a longtime friend of Barker's and would sometimes work as a bodyguard when the star drummer performed in small shows. Barker and Goldstein had performed together under the name TRVSDJ-AM at a free concert in Columbia on Friday night.
Baker, nicknamed "Little Chris," worked as a personal assistant to Barker and had appeared sometimes on the MTV show "Meet the Barkers" the MTV domestic-life reality show that aired in 2005 and 2006.
Michael Creger, a friend of Still, said the bodyguard's family was reeling from the news. They were upset, too, that early media reports of the accident focused on the injured Barker instead of the dead passengers. Still's family had thought the group in South Carolina would be returning home on a commercial flight, but that travel plans changed. The athletic Still was "a gentle giant" who aspired to be a professional athlete before finding a different career path with his backstage work, Creger said. He was a "huge music fan" who, with his tattoos and stature, was an imposing figure to strangers. His friends, however, knew him to be more like the tattoo across his torso: "Mama's Boy."
"His mother in Riverside is just devastated by this because Shea's dad died not long ago also," Creger said.
