A Wheaton College student was killed Saturday after being accidentally hit by a hammer during a hammer throw event at a track and field competition. 
 
 Ethan Roser, 19, a freshman from the Cincinnati area studying to be a minister, was volunteering at the Wheaton College track and field competition when he was struck at about 4:15 p.m. He had just transferred to the school in January. 
 
 Wheaton College Public Safety and paramedics were on the scene, and Roser was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where he was pronounced dead. 
 
 Authorities did not immediately release more information on the incident. The DuPage County coroner's office said Sunday that it planned to perform an autopsy Monday. Roser's family told the Tribune on Sunday morning that they were en route to Chicago and hoped to learn more about what happened. 
 
 "We know he's with Jesus," said his father, the Rev. Mark Roser. "And the fact that he's in paradise is a great source of comfort to us." 
 
 Ethan Roser, the son of Christian missionaries, spent his early years in Africa. His father recalled that Ethan, the youngest of four, had wisdom beyond his age and, as a young child, said things that left adults spellbound. That included when he was 6, as the family prepared to move from Zimbabwe to the United States. His father tried to reassure a tearful son that things would be OK in a land where his son had never lived. 
 
 "I said, 'It's the people that make the place,'" his father recalled. "And he looked at me and said, 'But the place stays in your heart forever.'" 
 
 Roser family Wheaton College student Ethan Roser, 19, a freshman from Cincinnati, was killed Saturday April 22, 2017 after being accidentally hit by a hammer during a hammer throw event while volunteering at a track and field competition. Wheaton College student Ethan Roser, 19, a freshman from Cincinnati, was killed Saturday April 22, 2017 after being accidentally hit by a hammer during a hammer throw event while volunteering at a track and field competition. (Roser family) (Roser family) 
 
 His family also recalled a stellar athlete who overcame two difficult knee surgeries to continue playing soccer, including at Wheaton College, while also remaining happy and committed to his faith in times of adversity. 
 
 His brother, Johnathan, in an update on Facebook, said Ethan lived a "powerful life." 
 
 "We are in shock and struggling to comprehend how we will live without him," he wrote. 
 
 Arrangements were pending Sunday. 
 
 Saturday night, Wheaton College held a gathering at Pierce Chapel in what college officials described in a Facebook post as a time of grieving and prayer over "a tragic accident." 
 
 "We are deeply grieved, but, because of our faith in Christ, not without hope," said Wheaton College President Philip Ryken in a statement. "We ask people to pray for Ethan's family, his friends, and our campus community." 
 
 gwong@chicagotribune.com 
 
 Twitter @GraceWong630 
 
 jmahr@chicagotribune.com 
 
 Twitter @joemahr 

 April 22, 2017 
 
 Wheaton College is grieved by the tragic death of freshman Ethan Roser. At approximately 4:15 p.m. this afternoon, Roser, a 19-year-old freshman transfer student from Cincinnati, Ohio, was volunteering at a Wheaton College track and field competition, where he was accidentally struck by a hammer during the hammer throw event. 
 
 Wheaton College Public Safety and the City of Wheaton paramedics were on the scene immediately, and Ethan was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove where he was pronounced dead. 
 
 "We are deeply grieved, but, because of our faith in Christ, not without hope," said Wheaton College President Philip Ryken. "We ask people to pray for Ethan's family, his friends, and our campus community.” 
 
 
 

– A track and field event ended in tragedy Saturday afternoon in Illinois. A 19-year-old freshman volunteering at a competition held at Wheaton College was accidentally hit by a hammer during the hammer throw event. WCPO reports the "hammer" is actually a metal ball that's attached to a grip via a steel wire; it weighs 16 pounds for men and 8.8 pounds for women, though it hasn't been reported which size hammer hit Ethan Roser. The Chicago Tribune reports Roser, who had transferred to the school in January and planned to become a minister, was pronounced dead at the hospital. "We are deeply grieved, but, because of our faith in Christ, not without hope," says Wheaton College President Philip Ryken in a statement. Roser's father, Rev. Mark Roser, echoed that faith-based reaction: "We know he's with Jesus, and the fact that he's in paradise is a great source of comfort to us."