Errant hammer throw kills college student

A student who had hoped to become a minister was killed Saturday when he was struck by a hammer during a hammer throw competition at a track meet in suburban Chicago. Ethan Roser, a 19-year-old Wheaton College freshman from the Cincinnati area, was volunteering at the meet when he was struck. Roser was pronounced dead at hospital. Roser is the son of Christian missionaries and spent his early years in Africa. Details of the accident weren’t readily available. Typically, the hammer is a metal ball attached to a steel wire and weighs as much as seven kilograms. An athlete spins the hammer several times before releasing it.