Neuqua Valley plans memorial service for grads who died in Astroworld concert surge
Neuqua Valley High School will host a memorial service for two graduates who were killed Friday night in a crush of fans during the Astroworld music festival in Houston.
Franco Patino, 21, and Jacob Jurinek, 20, were among the eight who died in the crowd surge during a performance by rapper Travis Scott.
Patino graduated from the Naperville high school in 2018, a year earlier than Jurinek. They were close friends since grade school.
A date has not yet been set for the memorial service.
In a letter to families Tuesday, Neuqua Principal Lance Fuhrer said, "National tragedies rarely hit our community like they did this past weekend."
"This hits home in many ways: Young people with potential, a friendship forged at our school, advancing their studies in college, attending a concert, and celebrating a birthday," Fuhrer wrote. "These are all things with which we can identify."
Funeral arrangements for Patino and Jurinek are pending.
"Once individual services are announced and occur, we will invite students, staff and alumni to honor the friendship of Franco and Jacob with a shared memorial service at our school," Fuhrer said.
Jurinek was a journalism student with a specialty in advertising at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Patino was majoring in mechanical engineering technology at the University of Dayton in Ohio.