Astroworld victims: Franco Patino was celebrating 21st birthday with pal Jake Jurinek — BOTH DIED
The stampede at Travis Scott's Astroworld festival on Friday night, November 4, claimed eight people’s lives and injured several others. Among those who died were friends Franco Patino and Jake Jurinek. Franco was reportedly celebrating his 21st birthday on Friday with his high school friend Jake. But the celebration ended drastically, killing them both.
Julio Patino, the father of Franco, told The Daily Beast, “He was happy and eating with his friend. He was having fun.” But the young man along with his friend never returned home as the uncontrollable chaos at the concert killed them. As per reports, warning signs started emerging earlier in the day when several fans went berserk at the entry points to the festival, striking down metal detectors and fences, and outnumbering security guards. Things only got worse when Scott began performing at nine in the night as people were so close to each other they found it hard to breathe.
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Explaining the terrible conditions, an ex-ICU nurse, who also attended the concert, wrote on Instagram, “Astroworld festival this year was fucking terrible. I don’t think i’ve ever been more disturbed. Some of these medical staff had little to no experience with CPR. There was not enough people to rotate out doing compressions on individuals that were actually pulseless. the medical staff didn’t have the tools to do their jobs. and despite the crowd around us trying to get someone to stop the concert they just kept going.”
It has been said Scott continued performing for several minutes even after police announced it was a mass casualty show. Julio said, “I’m in shock, I’m angry, I’m all of the above right now. I’ve seen the images when people started coming in [to the event]. It was already overcrowded. When they could not control the crowd, when they knew the crowd would become so rowdy, the owner should have stopped it right then. They could have done something before it got to the point of no return.”
Franco and Jake had been friends since they were students at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois. While Franco joined the University of Dayton to study mechanical engineering, Jack went to Southern Illinois University to study art and media. The pals loved hip-hop music and went together to Houston, Texas to attend Scott’s concert.
In a statement, Jake’s family said he was “beloved by his family and by his seemingly countless number of friends for his contagious enthusiasm, his boundless energy, and his unwavering positive attitude.” His cousins used to call him “Big Jake” - “a name befitting of his larger-than-life personality.”
The family noted that after his mother’s death in 2011, Jake came close to his father, Ron. The statement added: “In the decade since, Jake and Ron were inseparable—attending White Sox and Blackhawks games, sharing their love of professional wrestling, and spending weekends with extended family and friends at Jake’s favorite place, the family cottage in Southwestern Michigan.” His devastated father said, “It’s a terrible loss, he was great kid.”
But Julio is still unable to understand how the youngsters’ night turned so wrong. He said Franco was a regular at the gym and lifted weights. His physique was good and he was six feet tall. Authorities told Julio that his son and his friend died from cardiac arrest, most likely from pushing. “I can’t imagine dying that way,” the grief-stricken father added.
Julio also said they had not heard anything from Scott, or his team, or the festival’s organizers yet. He stated, “I’m a project manager. I know how to organize big projects and I believe they didn’t have all the contingencies in place. Something went very wrong. Who’s gonna pay the price for the life of these people?”