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HILLSBOROUGH: (updated) Outpouring grows for victim family in Md. plane crash

Tragedy strikes family of man who graduated from Hillsborough High

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Hillsborough was touched by the tragedy Monday morning of a small jet crashing into a home in a subdivision in Gaithersburg, Md.
Marie Gemmell and two sons, Cole, 3, and infant Devin, were killed in the home. Surviving are her husband, Kenneth, and the couple’s oldest child, Arabelle, 5.
Mr. Gemmell is a 1996 graduate of Hillsborough High School. Mrs. Gemmell grew up in Brick.
A fundraising effort has begun on the website www.gofundme.com/gemmellfamily. All of the money is pledged for Kenneth and Arabelle "who have lost most of their family, their home, and life as they once knew," the site says. The money will be donated for funeral expenses and additional expenses they will incur.
At about 4 p.m. Wednesday, the site had raised $352,219 from nearly 8,200 contributors in little more than two days. The amount was rising by the minute; at noon Tuesday, the figures had been $154,106 from 3,652 people.
Another website, http://sestore.net/collections/frontpage/products/gemmell-fund, is also accepting donations for the Gemmells. Screaming Eagles is a site for the DC United soccer community.
The Gemmells joined the club "family" 11 years ago and have many friends among the membership, the site says.
The bodies of Mrs. Gemmell, 36, her six-week-old infant and her 3-year-old son were found in the family’s second-floor bathroom. ABC News reported that it appeared her "final act was trying to protect her sons with her own body" after the jet crashed into the home and erupted into flames, officials said.
Late afternoon Tuesday, Mr. Gemmell issued this statement:
"As you can imagine I have a lot else going on. I would love to share more about my family but don’t think I can today. No words can describe the enormity of our loss and sadness over yesterday’s tragedy.
"We lost Marie, the love of my life and college sweetheart, and our two young, innocent and joyful sons — a loss that no person should ever endure. The outpouring of support has been overwhelming, and my daughter and I are appreciative for the prayers and well wishes from friends, neighbors and the community.
"We also appreciate the dedication and hard work of the firefighters, police and other first responders who did everything in their power to try to save my family during this horrific event. There will be a lot of grieving over the coming weeks, and we request that the media respect our privacy so I can provide my daughter with some degree of normalcy as we try to rebuild."
In the 1996 Hillsborough High School yearbook, Mr. Gemmell was said to be a math, amnesty and bio teams member and a soccer player in his first two years of school. He was listed with a Stage Coach Way, Belle Mead, address, and had memories of going to shows, skating, snowboarding and "going off the road."
Also perishing in Monday’s crash of the twin-engine plane was Dr. Michael Rosenberg, the pilot and CEO of a North Carolina health research firm, and two others, whose names hadn’t been released as of Tuesday afternoon.
The crash occurred as the plane was making an instrument approach to Montgomery County Airport, according to reports of a news conference of a National Transportation Safety Board official near the wreckage. News reports said witnesses said the plane appeared out of control when it went down about one mile from the airport and hit three houses in all.
The plane’s "black box," holding the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, had been recovered from the wreckage.