The search for a missing person has been suspended after the crash of an F/A-18 military jet that killed three others and destroyed two homes in University City Monday.

The F/A-18D Hornet jet crashed around noon Monday near Cather Avenue and Huggins Street as it prepared to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. The crash occurred two miles from the base.

The crash killed three people on the ground, and another person was missing, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque. According to neighbors, a grandmother, a mother and two children lived at the residence where the three bodies were found.

San Diego police spokeswoman Monica Munoz says the search for the fourth person, possibly one of the children, will resume Tuesday morning.

Television news footage showed what appeared to be the remnants of a smoldering house and two cars on fire.

Resident Scott Patterson told KNX radio there were two big bangs. "The smoke came up," he said. "We don't know what it was."

Neighbor Ben Dishman told MSNBC that the crash shook his house about a block away in the dense neighborhood and that officials were warning residents to move back.

"I knew definitely it was an explosion. ... It was pretty strong," Dishman said.

Munoz says about 20 homes were evacuated after the crash, but only four homes remain under that order because they are uninhabitable.

The F/A-18 is a supersonic jet used widely in the Marine Corps and Navy.

Miramar, well known for its role in the movie "Top Gun," is home to some 10,000 Marines. It was operated by the Navy until 1996.