‘I would’ve jumped in place of him’: Nathan Pastrana’s loved ones remember him

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    BELLEVUE, NE (KETV) — Angela Pastrana drove 16 hours to stand just steps away from where her son took his last breath.

“If I would’ve been here I probably would’ve been running in [the Sonic restaurant] not caring,” said Pastrana. “I would’ve jumped in place of him. I would’ve done whatever I could to still have him here.”

Nathan Pastrana was only 22 years old and had so much life to live.

“I’m just overwhelmed, I’m saddened, my heart is broken,” said Pastrana. “I’m in disbelief, he’s not gone.”

On Tuesday, Nathan Pastrana’s loved ones placed flowers at a makeshift memorial just feet away from the Sonic restaurant where a gunman entered and opened fire, killing Pastrana and his coworker.

Everyone loved Nathan, including Jamie Lynne Farrell, whom Nathan called his second mother.

“It feels like losing one of my own children,” said Farrell. “He was part of our family, we had seven children and he was just another one of our kids up here.”

Now Angela is channeling her son’s strength to help push through a season of sorrow.

“I have to be strong, I have to,” said Pastrana. “I don’t have the luxury of breaking down right now, I don’t.”

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