Brian Fraser, 39, of La Palma, was surrounded by family and friends, having the time of his life, and walking toward the stage to hear his favorite Jason Aldean song, “Dirt Road Anthem,” when he was shot and killed at a Las Vegas country music festival Sunday, according to his son.
“He served as my rock and my mentor,” said Nick Arellano, 25, whose mother married Fraser when Arellano was a teen. “He became my dad and my father figure. He helped anyone who asked. That’s why people loved and adored him.”
Arellano said his father loved to hunt, deep-sea fish, snowboard and attend his children’s sporting events. Fraser has recently earned his private pilot’s license.
He was a churchgoing man who was a congregant of Friends Church in Yorba Linda. And he was an avid country music fan who attended the Route 91 Harvest festival with nearly 20 close friends and family, including his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. No one else in the group was seriously injured.
Fraser is survived by his wife and four children.
“A bigger-than-life man taken far too soon,” Briana Flanigan and Brittany Gonzalez, Fraser’s sisters-in-law wrote on a GoFundMe account that had raised more than $96,000 for Fraser’s family by Tuesday night.
Fraser graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2001. He most recently was employed as vice president of sales at Greenpath, a Southern California mortgage company. The company honored him in a social media post.
“Brian Fraser impacted everyone who crossed his path with his infectious positive energy, his tenacious will to succeed, and his willingness to help others,” his employer wrote.
Aliso Viejo’s Victor Link, 55
Victor Link, 55, of Aliso Viejo was fresh from a trip to Europe with his fiance when he headed to the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas. Link, originally from Shafter, worked in the mortgage industry.
And he was taking in concerts, enjoying friends.
Link was among those killed, leaving an adult son, Christian, to struggle with grief.
In his Facebook posting, Christian Link promised to accomplish all the goals he had set with his father. He didn’t say what those goals are. Some things are just between father and son.
Link lived in Aliso Viejo with his fiancee Lynne Gonzalez.
Note: Victor Link’s age and city of residence were incorrect in an earlier version of this story.
