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In brief

Army pilot from Florida killed in Iraq, family says

By wire services
Published January 16, 2006

SARASOTA - A U.S. Army helicopter pilot from Florida who also had served in the Marine Corps was killed in a crash in Iraq, his family said.

Gary and Susan Jackson said they received a call Friday informing them their son, Kyle Jackson, 28, had been killed along with a co-pilot in an Army helicopter crash near Mosul, Iraq.

The father of two young girls, Kyle Jackson had joined the Army because he wanted to be a commercial helicopter pilot. His first choice for duty was Korea, but instead he was sent to Iraq in October, his family said.

He is the first U.S. serviceman from Sarasota to die in Iraq.

"He was nervous about going," Gary Jackson said. "But he wanted to do his job, and he wanted to do it well."

Jackson was born and raised in Sarasota. He graduated from New Directions High School, an alternative school that has since closed.

Before joining the Army, Kyle had served four years in the Marine Corps. Before he settled on becoming a helicopter pilot, Kyle Jackson worked as an assistant manager at a pizza restaurant and installed metal roofs. He also worked for a time in the family's cabinetmaking business.

"He liked to shoot guns and ride motorcycles," Susan Jackson said. "You know, typical guy stuff."

His decision to go back into the service wasn't just about flying helicopters, his parents said. Kyle Jackson also wanted to serve his country after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

He finished officer candidate school in March 2003 hand became a chief warrant officer. He then went to flight school.

LONGWOOD - Family and friends attended a candlelight vigil Sunday to remember 15-year-old Christopher Penley, who died two days after being shot by deputies at his school while holding a pellet gun.

Mourners visited Landmark Community church for an evening vigil for Penley, who was pronounced dead at 4:57 a.m. Sunday, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Penley had been brain dead since about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, but his body was kept functioning so his organs could be harvested, said Mark Nation, a lawyer for Penley's parents.

The media were barred from entering the church near Penley's neighborhood, which has been reeling from the Friday shooting at Milwee Middle School. Family and friends say the boy was emotionally troubled, reportedly bullied at school and had run away from home several times.

"It's just unbelievable to me that he's gone," said Bucky Hurt, a family friend who had been with the boy's father, Ralph Penley, at the hospital. "It's very, very devastating. Good kid, too - it's a tragedy."

Penley took a pellet gun that resembled a 9mm handgun to school Friday. After a classroom scuffle in which he struggled with another boy over the gun, he was cornered by sheriff's deputies and a SWAT team in a school bathroom, authorities said.

SANFORD - A Thomsonfly flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Britain was diverted after a passenger became unruly and allegedly struck flight attendants, authorities said Sunday.

The 236-passenger flight arrived at Orlando-Sanford International Airport between 8 and 9 p.m. Saturday, said Diane Crews, vice president for airport administration.

The man, Rafal Marcir Krawczyk, 32, was taken into custody by airport security until the FBI could arrive and charge him with interference with a flight crew, FBI special agent Kevin Farrington said.

[Last modified January 16, 2006, 04:21:02]