An Atlanta teenager and an elderly family friend drowned after the 16-year-old volunteered to help rescue four children caught in a current during a trip to Florida last week.
Bryce Brooks was staying with relatives in Pensacola over spring break when his life was cut short after diving into the ocean to help four ocean-stranded children, his bereaved family said Monday.
“The selflessness that it takes for someone to make such a sacrifice, to do so at only the age of 16, we’re so proud as parents how our son has shown up in this moment,” Shivy Brooks said… “Let it be amplified that Atlanta developed kids that would give up their life for others that they didn’t even know.”
“Bryce is a hero,” he added. “He literally saved the lives of four kids at the expense of his own and the world should know.”
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During the heroic rescue, Brooks and family friend Charles Johnson II went to help the high school student. Brooks’ Stepfather Shivy Brooks, said during a press conference aired on Fox 5 Atlanta that Johnson had also passed away.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that other adults on the beach were able to recover youth and adults and steps were being taken to save lives on the beach. The two were also flown to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
According to the newspaper, his stepfather said Bryce died of a heart attack.
The young man is survived by his parents and younger brother. The Brooks family said Johnson was survived by three children and a wife.
The accident happened in a part of Perdido Key where there were no rescue teams, WEAR reported.
