On the final day of Chicago’s annual Lollapalooza music festival this past weekend, a teenager was found unresponsive at the scene.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, Evan Kitz-Miller, 16, was found at 7:51 p.m. in the 300 block of East Randolph Street. He was given treatment from rescue workers after he appeared to be having a seizure, a bystander told Chicago WGN 9. Then, he was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead before 9 p.m., officials said.
Kitz-Miller was attending the festival with a four-day pass that he had bought with money saved up from working at a Mundelein car wash, WGN 9 reports. His mother, Melissa Kitz-Miller, told the Chicago Tribune that he had kept in contact with her throughout the festival and checked in just hours before. Since he didn’t suffer from epilepsy, she didn’t know what could have happened. His friends who attended the festival with him didn’t know what happened either.
Further studies and a death investigation is underway, the Chicago police said.
Lollapalooza released the following statement:
“We are saddened to learn of the death of an individual who attended Lollapalooza on Sunday. The individual’s family and loved ones are in our thoughts during this difficult time. We have no further information at this time.”
While there has been no official reason released for Kitz-Miller’s death, this year’s Lollapalooza dealt with multiple incidents. In just the first three days, a total of 325,930 people attended the festival, while seven arrests were made and 119 concertgoers were taken to nearby hospitals. Additionally, it was reported that the heat was “scorching” throughout the weekend with temperatures in the 90s.
This tragedy follows the death of a 20-year-old woman who passed away at this year’s Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Deleware this past June – whose cause of death was also unknown.
