One person died and a second was critically injured while skydiving in Perris on Thursday, May 28, Riverside County authorities said.
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Firefighters were called to the 600 block of E. Ellis Avenue just before 2 p.m., the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said. That address is adjacent to Skydive Perris.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies found one skydiver dead in a field on the east side of the 215 Freeway and 4th Street, said Lt. Deirdre Vickers, a department spokeswoman. A second skydiver was discovered in the same area on the west side of the freeway and was hospitalized in critical condition. A third skydiver also was located, uninjured, Vickers said.
No details were immediately available on what caused the death or the nature of the jump. The deceased skydiver’s name was not immediately announced.
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The most recent skydiving fatality in Perris is believed to have happened on Oct. 11, 2025, when 76-year-old Richard Gonzales of Las Vegas perished in what the Sheriff’s Department described as a “landing accident.”
There were 16 civilian skydiving deaths nationwide in 2025, according to the U.S. Parachute Association. — an average of 0.46 deaths per 100,000 jumps. There was an average of 12 deaths annually from 2018 to 2024, with a high of 20 in 2022 and a low of nine in 2024.
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