Many locals turned to social media Monday and Tuesday to share their grief over the loss of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty, who died Monday after suffering cardiac arrest.
The rocker and his band had appeared in San Diego just two weeks ago, thrilling thousands of Kaaboo Del Mar festival-goers with a two-hour set replete with hits and humorous stories.
Early reports on Monday on TMZ.com and elsewhere reported the rock legend's sudden illness, and many media outlets followed with premature reports on his death that they were then forced to walk back. The situation understandably confused and upset fans, many of whose emotions were already raw from the news about the horrific incident in Las Vegas at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival where 59 were killed and hundreds more injured.
-- posted by Oysterfest organizer and DJ Mikey Beats
Late on Monday night, though, came word that Petty had, indeed died at 8:40 p.m. at the UCLA Medical Center.
-- posted by Poway OnStage president and CEO Michael Rennie
Throughout Monday and into Tuesday, members of the San Diego community took to Facebook to share their reactions to the sad news.
-- posted by 91x Loudspeaker host and SoundDiego blogger Tim Pyles
--posted by concert photographer John Hancock
-- posted by Authentic Sellout frontman and Iacon Sound Studios owner Sulo King
--posted by the Local 949 host and Buckfast Superbee frontman Timothy Joseph
--posted by the local recording artist Ariel Levine