Spectators witnessed a horrifying incident at a football game at the David Crockett High School in Jonesborough, Tennessee. The high school was just about to play against the Daniel Boone High School.

On Friday night, in a pre-game performance at the annual Musket Bowl game, a man fell to his death while performing a skydiving stunt.

Richard Sheffield, 55, died in front of 100’s of spectators on the high school field. He was a grandfather, and an employee of the skydiving company Jump TN. He was brought to a local hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries. 

A video that appears online shows Sheffield as he fell during the stunt. He spun in a circle as he plunged to the ground. 

In the video, you can hear hundreds of frightened spectators screaming when they realized something was wrong with either the skydiver or his parachute, as Sheffield fell at a very high speed – way too fast for him to land safely.

Jerry Boyd, the School District Superintendent for Washington County, called the accident “unimaginable.”

A witness, Tyler Smith, told a local news station the accident was shocking and literally out-of-the-blue. The teenager, who captured the incident on his phone, said everyone around him was shocked and felt helpless.

Superintendent Boyd offered his condolences and sympathies to the victim’s family and said the tragedy saddened the entire community. He urged everyone to keep the family in their thoughts and to pray for them as they dealt with the horrific loss of their beloved father, grandfather, and husband.

Sheffield had been entertaining the Musket Bowl event for years, as part of a group of paratroopers.

A spokesperson for Jump TN, Angela Alley, said that Sheffield was an experienced skydiver, and that he had done more than 1,500 jumps. She said they did not notice anything unusual about Sheffield’s dive on Friday and that Sheffield had deployed the parachute without any issue.

The entire football field held a moment of silence for Sheffield before the game started.

Superintendent Boyd said the school district was providing mental health professionals to help the students who witnessed Friday’s incident if they needed help dealing with the trauma.

He said they were extremely concerned about the mental well-being of the students who attended Friday’s football game and witnessed the accident. Boyd also said it was unclear if they would continue allowing skydivers to perform at future events.