NTSB investigating after a small plane plunges from the sky and crashes into the middle of a shopping center parking lot killing all 5 passengers

CBS Los Angeles/Youtube

A shot of the crash of Cessna 414 in Santa Ana, California on Sunday, August 5th, 2018.

• A small twin-engine plane nosedived and crashed into a Santa Ana, California parking lot on Sunday while trying to make an emergency landing, killing all five people on board. 
• The NTSB has launched an investigation into what may have caused the crash. 
• Three of the victims worked at the same Danville, California real estate firm, Pacific Union. 

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A small twin-engine plane crashed from out of the sky into a Santa Ana, California parking lot on Sunday while trying to make an emergency landing, killing all five people on board.  

According to the Federal Aviation Authority's Twitter page, the crash happened shortly after 12:28 p.m. local time. The pilot of the twin-engine plane, Cessna 414, declared an emergency landing prior to the event. 

Orange Country Fire Capt. Tony Bommarito told NBC News that the plane had left Concord, northeast of San Francisco and was it trying to land at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, only 1 1/2 miles away. Peter Knudson, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told NBC that the plane had been given approval to land at John Wayne after the pilot declared an emergency. The NTSB has launched an investigation into the cause of the incident. 

"We are in the preliminary stages and we will be examining all of the facts that could lead to a situation like that," an NTSB investigator said during a press conference on Monday. 

According to the Orange County Fire Authority, the plane struck a parked car, but the driver was inside a store and was not harmed. The crash occurred inside a parking lot of the 3800 block of Bristol Street, fire authority spokesman Stephen Concialdi told the Los Angeles Times. 

On Monday, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County coroner's office identified the victims as: Scott Shepherd, 53, of Diablo, Lara Shepherd, 42, of Diablo, Nasim Ghanadan, 29, of Alamo, Floria Hakimi, 62, of Danville and Navid Hakimi, 32, of Los Angeles.

Floria Hakimi, Nasim Ghanadan, and Lara Shepherd worked as Realtors at the same Danville, California real estate consulting firm, Pacific Union. Pacific Union shared a statement by CEO Mark A. McLaughlin to Business Insider that reads:

"Our entire Pacific Union family is mourning the loss of our colleagues, family, and friends. We ask everyone to join us in respecting the privacy of all immediate family members during this time. Life is precious and we are focused on comforting the loves ones affected by this devastating event."

According to the statement given to Business Insider, Lara Shepard's husband, Scott Shepard, was the pilot of the plane, and both were lost in the crash. Floria Hikimi's son, Navid Hakimi, was killed in the crash along with his mother. 

According to her company profile, Lara and Scott are survived by their two children. 

The Los Angeles Times reports FAA records show that Category III Aviation Corp., a real estate consulting firm in San Francisco, was the owner of the plane. The company did not respond to the Times' request for comment. 

On Monday, CBS This Morning released a video showing the plane take a direct and fast-moving nose-dive downward before disappearing from sight and crashing:

Photos posted on social media show the devastation caused by the crash.