Army Skydiver Dies From Chicago Air Show Injuries

Tragedy for the Army's Golden Knights: Sgt. 1st Class Corey Hood, a parachutist who served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned two Bronze Stars, has died from injuries suffered at the Chicago Air & Water Show. A Golden Knights spokeswoman says the 32-year-old from Cincinnati was knocked unconscious after colliding with a member of the Navy's Leap Frogs parachute team on Saturday, the AP reports. He clipped the top of a high-rise building and had what the spokeswoman calls an "uncontrolled offsite landing." The Navy skydiver was treated for a broken leg. Hood's death is believed to be the first Golden Knights fatality since 1980.

Hood logged more than 500 free falls after he started skydiving in 2010, the Chicago Tribune reports. He was "an American hero," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "He defended our freedom, he amazed so many as a member of the Golden Knights, and he will be missed." The Golden Knights and Leap Frogs called off jumps scheduled for yesterday, which air show attendees thought was the right call. "I was hoping to see the parachute guys today, but I totally understand them canceling," a Logan Square resident tells the Tribune. "I've been thinking about them and praying they'll be OK. My enjoyment of seeing the parachutes is nothing compared to the gravity of the situation." (More Chicago stories.)