A 16-year-old has died after selflessly jumping into the ocean to save four younger children who were stuck in an undercurrent.
Bryce Brooks, from Atlanta, was in Pensacola, Florida, with relatives for spring break when he and an older family member died saving four children who were stuck in the ocean on April 6.
The children, whose ages are unknown, had gotten into difficulty in a part of the Perdido Key where no lifeguards were stationed, according to reports from WEAR.
The teenager had dived in to help but went under, and family friend Charles Johnson II went to help the high schooler but also ended up dying, according to Brooks’ father Shivy Brooks.
According to the Daily Mail’s reports, Brooks was one of three teenagers who rushed to help the children as three others ran to inform adults about the emergency.
The other two teenagers, who have not been named, managed to make it out of the water while onlookers searched for Brooks and Johnson, who was a father of three.
The honor roll student’s father added at the press conference: “Being selfless, our son Bryce, while being pulled by the currents himself, literally called for help, not for himself, but he was calling for help for the little kids that he was looking out for.
“Bryce is a hero. He literally saved the lives of four kids at the expense of his own.”
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Bryce Brooks and Charles Johnson III at this heartbreaking time.
