Authorities have begun identifying the eight people killed Friday night in a stampede at Travis Scott’s Astroworld — including a 14-year-old ”angel” and a man who died trying to save a relative in the mayhem.
John Hilgert, a ninth-grader at Memorial High School in greater Houston and an aspiring baseball player, was the youngest victim of the tragedy, according to The Houston Chronicle.
“John was a good student and athlete and so polite,” said Tracy Faulkner, a friend’s mother who brought the youngster his ticket for the doomed concert, to the outlet. “He was the sweetest and smartest young man.
“Everything about that night was a tragedy,” Faulker said.
In a Twitter post, the Warriors Baseball Academy where Hilgert played called the teen “an angel.
“He got the call up to the Mayor Leagues by the Almighty!” the touching post said. “John made an impact on anyone who met him and they always remember him.
“He loved the game of baseball,” the tweet added. “John was an angel the whole time I knew him… impacting others for good and he himself was a legend.”
In a letter to parents Saturday, Memorial High School Principal Lisa Weir said counselors would be available in the coming week for grieving classmates, according to KTRK-TV in Houston.
“Our hearts go out to the student’s family and to his friends and our staff at Memorial,” Weir wrote. “This is a terrible loss and the entire MHS family is grieving today.” .
Among the others killed in a stampede at the concert was Danish Baig, 27, who died trying to rescue a relative during the surge of fans at the event, which was “managed poorly and supervised by such horrible people,” his brother wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
“My brother tried to save my sister-in-law from these horrendous acts that were being done to her in the process he lost his life,” Basil Baig posted.
He described his brother as a “beautiful soul” whose smile “would light up the room and put everyone before himself.
“Last night he showed his courageous act to save my sister-in-law from those horrendous things that were being done,” the grieving brother said.
Baig, who said he also attended the show, wrote that fans “were hitting pushing and shoving” and were “provoked” by Scott, who continued with his performance amid the calamity.
University of Dayton student Franco Patino, 21, was among the dead, also, according to The Dayton Daily News.
The Illinois native was a member of Alpha Psi Lambda, a Hispanic interest fraternity, and he worked in an engineering co-op program, school officials said, the outlet reported.
Houston high school student Brianna Rodriguez, 16, also perished in the disaster, according to People Magazine.
“Gone from our sites [sic], but never from our hearts,” her family wrote on Facebook.
“It is with profound sadness we lay to rest our beloved Brianna Rodriguez … Dancing was her passion and now she’s dancing her way to heaven’s pearly gates.”
Rudy Peña, a Laredo man, was among the victims, too, the Laredo Morning Times said.
“My brother was the sweetest person, friendly, outgoing, he had many friends because he was always there for everyone,” sister Jennifer Peña told the paper, which could not confirm Rudy’s age.
Also identified Sunday was Souther Illinois University junior Jacob “Jake” Jurinek, who was studying art, his family told KTRK.
“We are all devastated and are left with a huge hole in our lives,” his father, Ron Jurinek, told the outlet. “Right now, we ask for the time and space for our family to process this tragic news and begin to heal.”
“We’re comforted by the fact that the hundreds of people Jake touched over the years will carry a piece of his spirit with them,” he said.
A seventh victim, who had remained a mystery, was identified by his family as Axel Acosta, a 21-year-old Washington State college student.
Police have not released the name of the eighth victim as the investigation into the catastrophe continued.
