College baseball player killed by second train while crossing Wheaton tracks
Eighteen-year-old Tomassino Offer was killed by an eastbound freight train in Wheaton, Illinois, shortly after leaving church on Sunday. A Metra spokesperson said he tried to cross after one train had passed but did not see another approaching from the opposite direction, highlighting the danger of multiple trains travelling on nearby tracks.
Offer had recently graduated from Notre Dame Preparatory School in Michigan and had moved to Illinois to play baseball at Wheaton College. His church and college held memorials, and a fundraiser organised by local community groups raised more than $45,000 in a day to support his family.
- Tomassino Offer, 18, was struck by a train in Wheaton.
- He had moved from Michigan to play baseball at Wheaton College.
- A community fundraiser raised over $45,000 for his family.
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Wheaton is a city in Illinois, west of Chicago, where commuter and freight trains use railway lines that run through the area. A train passing on one track can block the view of another approaching on a nearby track, so crossing before the signals show it is safe can be dangerous.
Metra operates commuter trains in the Chicago area, while freight trains carry goods. Tomassino Offer had recently moved to Illinois to play baseball at Wheaton College after graduating from school in Michigan; his death prompted memorials at his church and college and a fundraiser for his family.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Recent prep school graduate, 18, waited for train to cross tracks before walking…but was killed when he didn’t see locomotive coming in the other direction”.