DAYTON — Students at the University of Dayton are mourning the loss of their fellow student who was killed along with seven others at the Astroworld Festival.
Franco Patino, a 21-year-old senior from Naperville, Illinois, was killed at the concert in Houston, Texas, the university confirmed Saturday.
Students on UD’s campus told News Center 7 that they were shocked to hear the news about Patino, who was a mechanical engineering technology major.
>> University of Dayton student killed while attending concert in Houston
“Finding out that it was actually someone from the university out of eight people is kind of shocking for sure,” Dan Goglia, UD student, said.
Eight people were killed and hundreds of were treated for injuries after the crowd of nearly 50,000 attendees surged forward during rapper Travis Scott’s performance just before 9 p.m.
UD student Billy Steigelman said learning of Patino’s death was hard to comprehend.
Lily Hof said she had spent time with Patino and said he was really friendly.
“He was really nice and cool,” said Hof, also a UD student.
>> Astroworld tragedy: Homicide, narcotics detectives investigating 8 festival deaths, police say
A memorial was held for the eight victims in Houston.
Patino’s viewing was held over this past weekend according to his obituary.
His funeral is set for today, November 20, at Holy Spirit Catholic Community Church in Naperville Illinois at 2 P.M.
Steigelman told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott that the incident has made it appreciate life a little more.
“It just makes you think about how grateful you can be,” Steigelman said. “You never know what can happen.”
Troy Finner, Houston Police Chief, said homicide and narcotics detectives are joining the criminal investigation to try and figure out what led to the chaos that killed eight people.
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