Jersey Boys guitarist killed by train while posing for photographs

A respected Las Vegas musician was killed by a train while posing for pictures near Seattle on Saturday.

Jeff Ray, a guitarist in the band for the popular Jersey Boys show, was posing for some new promotional photos for an upcoming album when the tragedy happened.

He had walked with a friend and photographer to an area where Mount Rainier could be seen in the background, and was sitting on the rails when the train struck.

According to the Daily Mail, an Auburn police commander said the train was traveling 79 mph while heading southbound from Seattle to Portland, and Ray was unable to move out of the way of the Amtrak Cascades commuter train.

There were 130 passengers on the train at the time, but none of them were injured.

The Review Journal reports the Jeff had taken a few nights off from his job as second guitarist for the Broadway musical at Paris Las Vegas to travel to Washington to pay a casino lounge show with a group called the Jone$.

Music director Keith Thompson told the Las Vegas Sun that Jeff was a very talented guitar player. He said: "We at Jersey Boys are in shock, total shock, about Jeff's death.

"He was a complete and total delight to work with and be around and was one of the most positive, upbeat, joyous people I've known in the business. He loved Jersey Boys and being part of this show."

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