Coroner’s Reports Filed in High School Deaths

The death of 18-year-old Connor O’Keefe, who was struck from behind by a passenger train on 3/11, has been deemed an accident by the Santa Barbara County Coroner. According to a summary of the coroner’s report, the Santa Barbara High School senior was with friends at the beach near Fernald Point when he went back to the car alone to get his camera, walking northbound to one side of the railroad tracks near Posilipo Lane while talking on his cell phone. “He did not respond when a northbound train traveling approximately 50 miles per hour rounded the bend near Sheffield Drive … and activated its horns, whistles and braking system,” according to the report. In related news, the coroner’s report on Carpinteria High School senior Filiberto Hernandez, 18, has also been released. Hernandez was reported missing and possibly suicidal on 3/12. The next morning, his body was discovered at the base of the Carpinteria bluffs near the seal rookery. According to the coroner’s report, Hernandez drowned after sustaining blunt-force injuries from a cliff fall. His death was deemed a suicide.