A's prospect opens memorial fund for Stoneman Douglas AD

Among the 17 people killed in Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon. He died helping students during the shooting, and an Oakland Athletics pitching prospect is paying tribute.

Jesus Luzardo, a 20-year-old left-hander who spent time between rookie ball and Single-A in 2017, has opened a memorial fund for Hixon, according to ESPN. Luzardo graduated from Stoneman Douglas in 2016 and has credited Hixon as playing "a huge role in supporting my dreams of becoming a professional baseball player."

In a post on the crowd-funding site YouCaring, where Luzardo opened the fund, the pitcher expressed his sadness stemming from the shooting.

"I’m writing this with a heavy heart, as Parkland is somewhere I have been lucky enough to call home for the past 18 years of my life," he wrote. "It is a special place where I have made friendships that will last a lifetime and I have made memories that will forever be embedded in my mind. I made relationships with people that I now consider family."

Luzardo told MLB.com's Jane Lee that he had planned on being at the school the day of the shooting, as he had been working out there a few times per week, but was told to stay away because of the shooter. He often practiced with the school's baseball team during the winter, and several players were texting him that day.

He announced the memorial fund for Hixon on Friday in a short video on Twitter: