Two helicopter pilots were killed when their aircraft crashed Sunday afternoon while conducting water drops on a wildfire at Yosemite National Park, officials say.
The pilots were the only people on board and were employed by the contract aircraft company Precision. One of the pilots was Greg King, who used to work for the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection and fought several wildland fires in that state before moving to Precision, said agency spokesperson Emery Johnson.
King's close relatives work at the agency and gave their permission to release his name, Johnson said. The identity of the second pilot has not yet been released.
At least 14 people have died while helping with wildfires in the U.S. this year, the most since 2022 when 25 deaths were recorded, according to government reports. In August, two helicopter pilots died while helping fight a fire in Utah and a helicopter pilot in Colorado crashed into a reservoir.
Details about the circumstances surrounding Sunday's crash were not immediately released. It will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Super Puma helicopter had been using a water bucket to help suppress the fire when it went down near a lake, said Benjamin Cossel, a spokesperson with the Federal Complex Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting response.
The Alaska forestry and fire agency called the deaths a devastating loss for the entire wildland firefighting community.
“Greg was a dedicated aviator and a dear friend to many of us. We are mourning both pilots who bravely supported firefighting efforts, and our hearts go out to their families,” the agency statement said.
Precision wrote on social media that the company was “struggling to find the words.”
“We ask for privacy and compassion for their families and our team as we grieve this tremendous loss,” the statement said.
Roughly 580 people are fighting the Dome Fire, which started Sept. 15 near Wawona, California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It's burning on about 4.7 square miles (12.3 square kilometers) and is about 15% contained.
The crash site was southeast of Ostrander Lake, which is roughly 7 miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Wawona and roughly 9 miles (14 kilometers) south of Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan.
Other firefighters who have died this month include one in Oklahoma who suffered a medical emergency while fighting a wildfire, and another in Oregon who was hit by a tree that broke while he was cutting it in Mt. Hood National Forest.
Also in August, a wildfire officer was killed in Oklahoma after getting trapped while evacuating a burning building in a wildland fire; a firefighter died following a medical emergency during a wildfire in Minnesota; and a bulldozer operator got overrun by flames in Oregon.
This photo provided by the National Parks Service shows the Dome Fire burning in Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (National Parks Service via AP)
This photo provided by the National Parks Service shows the Dome Fire burning in Yosemite National Park on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (National Parks Service via AP)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, the man's attorney said.
Speaking by phone during a news conference, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez said doctors didn’t remove the bullet because it’s near his spine. He said ICE pressed for him to be released quickly from the hospital so it could move him to a detention center. He said he had received no pain medication or treatment there, and had slept on the floor, before eventually being given a “pill” by a nurse on Monday.
Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when his car was “sideswiped” twice by ICE officers in an unmarked truck, immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters Monday.
An ICE officer shot Perez in the back of the neck before officers pulled him from his car, she said. He was taken to a hospital, Lincoln-Goldfinch said, but was released later Sunday into ICE custody with the bullet still inside him.
“I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,” Perez said, speaking in Spanish over the phone as his wife translated during the news conference.
Perez was being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southwest of Austin, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said Perez told her in a prior phone call that he was being interrogated.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who “had a final order of removal.”
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to email messages seeking further comment on the shooting.
Perez entered the U.S. legally in 2024 as an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said a judge issued a deportation order for Perez after he missed a hearing in immigration court because the hearing notice was sent to a former address.
“Not that being out of status would justify any of this at all,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said of the shooting in a social media post.
The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during President Donald Trump's second term. During the summer, it reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.
Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year.
Local advocates, leaders of the civil rights group the League of United Latin American Citizens and two Democratic congressmen who represent parts of Austin called during the news conference for the creation of an independent body to review use-of-force incidents by ICE and refer suspected crimes to prosecutors.
They also urged Congress to ban ICE officers from making traffic stops, saying the officers are undertrained and too quick to resort to violence.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, has said he wants local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. Watson said it wouldn’t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.
The area beneath an overpass where a large crowd of protesters had gathered Sunday near the shooting scene was quiet Monday. Trash-filled plastic bags were left below concrete pylons marked with anti-ICE graffiti.
Amid discarded police tape, people left candles, flowers and a sign that read “Justice for Wilber.”
Associated Press journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.
People speak during a demonstration where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Authorities deploy non-lethal weapons near a demonstration where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
A man photographs a spray-painted surface that reads "death to immigration enforcement" near the site where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer the day before in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Flowers and candles are seen near the site where a Venezuelan man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Flowers and candles are placed, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, near the site where an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop the day before, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)
People protest where local authorities say a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer (ICE) shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Flowers and candles are placed, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, near the site where an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop the day before, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)
