The news I've read so far indicates his wife and daughters were not on board. But the other four people in the crash haven't been identified yet.
UPDATE: Reports indicate one of his daughters, 13-year-old Gianna (nicknamed Gigi) was among the helicopter passengers.
This post was edited by SaltyPebble at January 26, 2020 2:35 PM MST
As a long-time Lakers fan, I remember when Magic Johnson announced he had HIV and was retiring.
The news of Kobe feels a little like that, although somewhat more shocking. Because of Magic's hedonistic lifestyle, it wasn't that surprising he contracted HIV. But aircraft crashes always feel very random.
I'm not a basketball fan, but I know who this is and I was shocked when I heard the announcement on the radio as I was coming home this afternoon. Kobe was one of the good guys - you never heard anything negative about him and he was a family man and a good role model. I'm so sorry that his young daughter was with him. What a blow to his wife and the rest of his family.
Well, Kobe was a complicated person, but I did admire that he and his wife kept their family together despite their troubles.
Given what an indomitable force Kobe was as a player, having him succumb to such a sudden inescapable accident seems somehow unfair. It also hurts that one of his daughters was also killed. Kobe is gone after having accomplished so much, but his daughter was just starting her life.
In an ideal world, equal mourning would be a given.
However, it's a simple reality more people will lament Kobe's passing than that of his daughter or the others in the crash.
I do hope (and I have some optimism) that there won't be a situation similar to when Margaret Thatcher died and people cheered her death. While Kobe had many detractors, I don't think he was "hated" except in the sports fan sense of the word.
Great player, complicated personality may he rest in peace.
My question is why for a 20 minute drive was he taking a chopper up in weather where LA had grounded all theirs. The terrain between his house and destination is quite rough. I think his ego wrote a check which he paid for with his life