UPDATE @ 11:35 a.m. (Sept. 25):
A memorial gathering has been set for the Centerville High School junior killed after he was struck by a train in Miamisburg Friday night.
The gathering for Joseph Fernandez will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Routsong Funeral Home at 81 N. Main St. in Centerville on Thursday, according to his obituary.
RELATED: Train came to ‘screeching’ halt in Miamisburg pedestrian fatality
Family members said Fernandez was struck while trying to perform a stunt from a video on the internet.
“All these videos on YouTube of people doing this exact same stunt and not dying is what encouraged these kids to do this,” Joseph’s uncle Joshua Fernandez said. “People should stop posting this stuff.”
Fernandez had just joined the Elks’ wrestling team and had begun weightlifting, the obituary read.
Joshua described his nephew as a good kid.
“He loved his family. He loved animals. He loved dogs,” Joshua said.
UPDATE @1:45 a.m. (Sept. 25)
Grief counselors will be on hand at Centerville High School today after a student was struck and killed by a train in Miamisburg Friday evening.
Joseph Fernandez was struck by a Norfolk Southern train on the tracks between Linden and East Central avenues.
Fernandez, 16, of Miamisburg, attended Centerville High School.
UPDATE @ 6 p.m. (Sept. 23)
A 16-year-old boy who was fatally struck by a train Friday night in Miamisburg was walking with a friend along railroad tracks behind Library Park before the teen was struck.
At first the friend told a 911 dispatcher: “I guess he didn’t hear the train.”
He later admitted Fernandez had laid down on the tracks.
“I think he had the idea of laying on the tracks and tried to survive it,” he said.
Centerville City Schools Superintendent Tom Henderson said district leaders are meeting this weekend and that counselors will be available to students Monday.
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UPDATE @ 4:15 p.m. (Sept. 23)
A 16-year-old pedestrian who died Friday night after he was struck by a train in Miamisburg has been identified as a resident of that city.
Joseph Fernandez was struck by a Norfolk Southern train on the tracks between Linden and East Central avenues, authorities said Saturday.
RELATED: Train came to ‘screeching’ halt in Miamisburg pedestrian fatality
Fernandez, a Miamisburg resident, was a student at Centerville High School, according to Miamisburg police.
There is no indication of suicide at this time, according to police, and it is believed that all crossing arms and signals were functioning at the time.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office is still working on Fernandez’s specific cause of death, investigators said Saturday afternoon.
UPDATE @ 10 p.m.
A Norfolk Southern train struck and killed a teenager tonight, but Miamisburg police Sgt. Josiah Keefer said police do not believe it was a suicide.
The 16-year-old boy was hit just after 7:40 p.m. on the railroad tracks near the 400 block of East Linden Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police did not release his name or whether he was a Miamisburg student.
The train has been stopped since the crash, and will block crossings possibly until midnight as police investigate. Pearl Street was one of the few crossings that was open.
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Police earlier had portions of the train taped off. As news spread of the accident, some mothers came down to ask officers if their child was hit. Others came to the scene to offer support for friends and family of the victim.
“Our hearts and our prayers are with them and I don’t think any of us can truly say we understand what they’re feeling but that doesn’t mean that our hearts and our prayers won’t be with them,” said Glenda Mesta of Miamisburg.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has taken the teen’s body. He has not been identified pending notification of family.
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UPDATE @ 8:20 p.m.
A teenage boy was confirmed deceased tonight when medics arrived at the scene of a pedestrian who was struck by a train hauling lumber.
A friend of the victim called 911 to report the incident, according to the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center.
FIRST REPORT
A pedestrian was struck by a train tonight in Miamisburg.
The incident was reported at 7:40 p.m. in the 400 block of Linden Avenue. The train has stopped, which is blocking streets in the area.