Patch.com reports, 62-year-old Richard Valadez died after attending this past Sunday’s (11th) Knotfest Roadshow concert at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL. While his official cause and circumstances of his death is not yet known, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Valadez was pronounced dead at 11:34PM.
Concertgoers who attended the show witnessed Valadez suffer in distress while the venue staff “were slow and sometimes struggling to help him.” Attendees who were near Valadez made several attempts to help him, which included flashing their phones to get security, circled around Valadez for him to not get trampled on in the mosh pit, as well as a few tried CPR to revive him.
While Valadez appeared fine throughout the evening, things became a bit hazy an hour into Slipknot’s set, particularly during the song “Sulfur.” Fans noticed Valadez was hit too hard and fell out of the mosh pit and landed onto the grass while remaining in his section, 206.
Attendees noticed he went into a seizure as they instantly called for help. However, this help took a great 15-25 minutes for staff and emergency personnel to assist Valadez.
Concertgoers did everything they could to help Valadez, which included several people jumped fences to alert ticket-takers about the emergency. Patch.com also reports, witnesses saw men carrying a stretcher towards Valadez who appeared as fellow metalheads, not emergency staff.
Witnesses were disturbed by how long it took security and emergency staff to get to Valadez. One witness stated the following on the amphitheater’s staff:
“They definitely should have handled things better: More emergency presence for one. And a better way for people to alert that they need help.”
Another witness added:
“Over all the whole venue just screwed the pooch on the entire thing,” Mackey said. “No communication, no preparation, nothing.”
We are saddened to hear what happened to Valadez and our condolences go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.
