A 51 year old man who plunged to his death during a concert at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night has been named as a much-loved married father of two from Connecticut.
Paul Kueker fell 150 feet from the Chase Bridge at Madison Square Garden during the Goose concert, shortly before 10pm on Saturday. His mother Patricia Finelli, told the New York Post: “”He was the greatest kid in the whole wide world, he’d give you the shirt off his back. He took care of me like I was a piece of gold.”
Kueker had attended the concert alongside his wife, with whom he shares two children. After the horror fall he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to police.
View 2 Images(L-R) Joel Cummins, Peter Anspach, and Rick Mitarotonda of Goose (Image: FilmMagic)
Kueker and his wife were present for Goose’s second night at MSG as part of its summer tour. The band wrapped up its 16-song set at around midnight. A band statement read: ” We are deeply saddened and heartbroken to learn of the tragic event that occurred at tonight’s show. We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone affected. Thank you to the emergency personnel and venue staff who stepped in with care and support.”
Concert attendees have reported that a fan plummeted from the upper 200 or 300 tier down to level 100. The multi-storey venue’s main 100, 200, and 300 seating sections are equivalent to the height of a typical 10-storey building.
One photograph of the purported scene, posted by a gig-goer on Reddit, revealed numerous crushed seats at the venue with police tape cordoning off the area.
“Not ok. Wheeled off and bloodbath,” another individual stated while sharing an image displaying a substantial portion of seats sealed off.
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Others remembered hearing a deafening noise as the individual tumbled. “In section 101, the thud was incredibly loud. All of us in sections 101, 102, and 103 are shaken pretty hard. it’s very uneasy here…. we hope he’s okay! it took them a long while to get him on the stretcher,” one person recounted.
The group allegedly performed a second set after the incident following an extended interval. Several eyewitnesses confirmed that paramedics removed him on a stretcher.