Air Force Member Killed in Alamodome Rappelling Ceremony

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — An Air Force service member has died after being critically injured during a pregame rappelling demonstration at San Antonio’s Alamodome on Saturday, authorities said. The event was held as part of a college football ceremony honoring members of the armed forces and military veterans.

The accident happened shortly before kickoff of the game between Navy and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“Once the band started playing, there was a guy that fell down,” Adrian Corey, a witness among the more than 23,000 fans at the game, told ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT.

Witnesses said the airman was one of three service members taking part in a descent from the Alamodome ceiling, roughly 170 feet above the floor.

Corey, who captured the incident on his cellphone, said spectators realized something had gone wrong when the airman, whose identity has not been released, “started coming down fast.”

San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Joe Arrington said firefighters were dispatched to the Alamodome at about 7 p.m. local time after receiving a report that someone had fallen during the pregame ceremony. The injured service member was taken to a hospital in life-threatening condition, Arrington told ABC News.

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A spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base later confirmed that the airman died at the hospital.

The service member was assigned to the 6th