SM Resident & SMC Student Struck by Lightning

A former SMC student was killed after lightning struck Venice Beach Sunday was just three weeks away from fulfilling his long-time dream of entering USC and studying urban development, his parents said.

Nick Fagnano, 20, of Los Angeles had been enjoying the beach with at least two friends from high school when he waded into the water to rinse off some sand from his body, friends and family said. Shortly afterward, a flash of lightning struck.

"He was the best child a parent could ever have hoped for," said mother Mary Fagnano Monday of her and her husband Jay Fagnano's only child. "We pray that he didn't feel anything, that the lightning hit him immediately."

Without warning, a rare summer lightning bolt struck Venice Beach on Sunday at about 2:20 p.m., injuring 13 people who were either in or near the water - eight of which were taken to area hospitals for treatment, fire officials said. Among them was a critically injured surfer, said to be about 55 years old, who was pulled out of the water not breathing and without a pulse by swimmers.

As the surfer was treated with CPR, several other patients began to complain to lifeguards of symptoms, such as feelings of electrocution and headaches, fire officials said. L.A. County lifeguards did not immediately know Fagnano was missing in the chaos.

"There was so much commotion when the lightning struck on the beach, he was not one of those recovered in the first response," Mary Fagnano said. "His friends were looking frantically for him, couldn't find him."

His friends soon notified Los Angeles County lifeguards. Within minutes and while the friends were being interviewed at about 2:50 p.m, it was reported that someone saw a person floating underneath the Venice pier, said Capt. Danny Douglas of the L.A. County Fire Department Lifeguard Division.

"We immediately started searching that area," Douglas said, noting the search included two L.A. County lifeguard rescue boats, an L.A. County fire helicopter and an L.A. County Fire dive team. About 22 lifeguards were involved, he said.

It took about 52 minutes to locate Fagnano, who was found not breathing and pulseless after a swimmer accidentally bumped into him in the water near 26th Avenue, Douglas said. He was in about three or four feet of water, about 30 to 40 yards from the shoreline, Douglas said. CPR was immediately initiated and he was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"There was no warning," L.A. County Fire Department Inspector Rick Flores said. "It was just one (lightning) strike. It caught everybody by surprise."

Fagnano, an only child, was a 2012 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and had also attended Santa Barbara City College and Santa Monica College. He had been living with his parents in downtown Los Angeles since December and was about to enter USC as a junior, where he was looking forward to studying urban development. He was very passionate about downtown Los Angeles "coming to its own" as a city, his father said.

"The three most important things to Nick growing up were his faith, his family and his friends - and then USC was the fourth to that," his mother said. "It was something he worked so hard for. We were so proud of him that he had achieved that.

Nick, a 2012 Notre Dame graduate described as kind, loyal and funny, participated in the tight-knit private Catholic school's baseball program for four years and had many friends in the San Fernando Valley, his father said.

"We are all pretty devastated in the Notre Dame community, obviously feeling mostly for the family," said Tom Dill, the head baseball coach at Notre Dame. "Mary and Jay (Fagnano) are wonderful people and Nick was one of the sweetest young men I've had the pleasure to coach."

Dill said he was struck by how polite and appropriate Nick acted and had clearly been raised "the right way."

"This boy just knew the right way to talk to people and he had compassion and care for others and he was just a wonderful young man," Dill said.

Meanwhile, a chiropractor at the Robert A. Kilroy Chiropractic Clinic in Los Angeles said Robert A. Kilroy was hospitalized at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after the lightning strike. Hospital officials however declined to identify the patient, who they reported to be in critical condition.

Gary Kerr, who was handling all of the clinic's patients Monday at their Wilshire Boulevard chiropractic clinic, said he spoke to Kilroy's former wife on the phone and was assured he was improving enough to be back to work soon.

"She said Bob was affected by the lightning, but he was coming out of it really well and the doctors didn't think it would be too long before he would be OK to leave the hospital," Kerr said.

Kilroy, 56, reportedly was a lifeguard for years at beaches in Santa Monica and Venice. The Santa Monica resident was a "respected waterman, an excellent lifeguard," a former colleague said.

A family member of Kilroy declined to comment.