PAMPLONA, Spain — For a bull, this one was on the smallish side, at just over half a ton. And its name, Capuchino, sounded harmless enough, like coffee with frothy milk.

But of the things that can go wrong when hordes of humans sprint with thundering beasts at Spain's most storied fiesta, the light brown bull did one of the most dangerous on Friday, straying from the pack, spooking and charging at anything that moved.

The rogue bull gored a young Spaniard in the neck, the first fatality in nearly 15 years at Pamplona's running of the bulls. The victim was killed almost instantly as he scurried for cover under a wooden barrier, sliding under it feet-first.

Had he dived headfirst, the experienced bull runner and son of a Pamplona native would probably still be alive.

At least nine people were injured in the fourth of eight planned runs, illustrating the festival's extraordinary drawing power and global lure: two were Americans in their 60s, one of whom suffered a blow to the chest, one a Londoner aged 20, and another a young man from Argentina.

The party went on despite the death, the 15th since record keeping began in 1924. The running of the bulls — made famous by Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Sun Also Rises" — has never been suspended just because someone has died in the mad, half-mile dash from a holding pen to the city's bull ring.

There, the same six bulls that run in the cool of the morning over cobblestone streets face off against matadors and the prospect of almost certain death in the afternoon. Ironically, on Friday, Capuchino was scheduled to go first.

A minute of silence was to be observed in memory of the late Spaniard, identified as Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, from Alcala de Henares, a town outside Madrid. On the social networking site Netlog, where condolences were being posted Friday, he described himself as a glassmaker who loves soccer and snowboarding.

Friday's run got ugly quickly. Capuchino was running at the head of the pack at a hill leading up from the holding pen. The bulls go very fast at that point because their front legs are shorter than their hind ones, allowing them to run better on an incline than on level ground. Herders with sticks chased them, to keep them going.

But 1,130 pound Capuchino, about 200 pounds lighter than the biggest of the group, tripped over some runners and ended up lagging behind.

The bulls run with six steers meant to keep them in a tight pack, and tend to mind their own business as long as they stay together. But a bull that gets separated is more likely to get frightened and aggressive, and that is what happened Friday, leading to chaos.