Lightning Strike Victims' Update: 1 in Critical Condition

UPDATED at 11:46 a.m.: A man was in critical condition today and several others were in fair condition following rare lightning strikes at Venice Beach, where a 20-year-old man was killed.

Eight people -- seven adults and a 15-year-old boy -- were hospitalized after lightning struck Venice Beach around 2:20 p.m. Sunday, said Katherine Main of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Nick Fagnano of Los Angeles died at a hospital, according to the coroner’s office. He was believed to have been a swimmer who, according to the fire department, was in grave condition when pulled from the water.

“The guy wasn’t moving. He wasn’t responding at all,” beachgoer Jesus Zamudio told the Los Angeles Times.

Six people, including the 15-year-old, were hospitalized in fair condition and were expected to fully recover, fire officials said. The critically injured man was a 55-year-old surfer, they told the Times.

National Weather Service forecasters said an increase in monsoon-like moisture will bring a 20 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms to the Los Angeles area today.

Fagnano was a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he was pitcher on the baseball team. He attended classes at Santa Monica College and was planning to attend USC beginning in the fall at the Price School of Public Policy.

“There was so much commotion when the lightning struck on the beach, he was not one of those recovered in the first response,” Fagnano’s mother, Mary, told the Daily News. “His friends were looking frantically for him, couldn’t find him. Half an hour after lightning struck, his body was found about 50 feet out.”

--City News Service

Patch file photo.