Son of Japanese Executive Among Victims of Crash

A man who headed the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese printing company was among the four people killed when their small plane crashed into a Torrance medical building, an employee said Tuesday.

Shimpei Matsumoto, who is the son of Daicolo Corp. President Hajime Matsumoto, was killed in the crash shortly after the plane took off Sunday from Torrance Municipal Airport, said Daicolo employee Moses Cabrera.

Coroner’s investigators had not confirmed the identities of the four victims pending a check of dental records, a spokesman said. The plane crashed through the top two floors of the three-story building near Hawthorne Boulevard and Skypark Drive.

In Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying three of the victims were believed to be Matsumoto, 35; Masayoshi Kohira, 30, and Miki Tomigashi, 28.

Bill Sherwood of Rolling Hills Aviation, where the plane’s pilot stored his Beechcraft Sundowner, said the victims were associated with Daicolo, an Osaka-based printing company. Its U.S. subsidiary is based in Torrance.