EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WKBW) — 19-year-old Jett Hamann was killed after he was hit by a train while walking to work in East Aurora. The community has already raised more than $6,500 to support the family.
“It’s hard that he didn’t get to grow up and be the person I knew he would be,” Jett’s father Dejon Hamann said.
Dejon told me his son was a chef at Left Coast Taco in East Aurora. Jett was called into work early Wednesday, but rather than driving, he walked to work wearing his earbuds.
Jett took a route that ended up on the train tracks, but he never made it to work.
“He was more than just my son, he was my best friend,” Dejon said.
Jett graduated from Springville-Griffith Institute as well as the culinary arts program at the Wallace D. Ormsby Educational Center in 2023.
He loved to cook so much that Left Coast Taco wasn’t his only job.
Jett and Dejon were a father-son duo running Aurora Bagels out of their house. Dejon told me he will continue their passion, just under a new name.
“I’m going to rebrand it, something like ‘Jett’s,’ in his name,” Dejon said. “To put it in his name, I think feels good energy-wise. It embodies his spirit and his joy.”
The bagel business has been closed all week, but Dejon said he hopes to reopen it on Sunday.
In the meantime, a GoFundMe was started in support of Jett's family, it has raised more than $6,500 in just two days.
There will be a memorial held at 42 North in East Aurora Thursday at 5 p.m.
