Texas boy, father killed by lightning strike: report
TEXAS (KXAN) — A 6-year-old Texas boy has reportedly died after he and his father were struck by lightning in May.
Matthew Boggs went to pick up his two sons after they were dropped off by a school bus on May 15 in Bosque County, located northwest of Waco, The Dallas Morning News reports. The boy, Grayson, and his father were holding hands when Boggs was struck by lightning and the current passed through him and his son.
Boggs was pronounced dead following the lightning strike, authorities told The Dallas Morning News. After a monthlong stay in the hospital, Grayson died on Friday.
Extended family launched a GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $100,000 from approximately 2,000 donors.
“Grayson went to be with our Lord and his father,” an update from Friday read in part. “Please pray for the family at this time. Fly high, sweet boy.”
Matthew Boggs is survived by his wife; children, Elijah and Navaeh Smith; mother and father; and brothers, among other relatives, according to his obituary.
According to one analysis, Texas saw the most lightning in 2022, with over 27 million cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground bolts recorded.
The National Weather Service reported an average of 20 people die each year from lightning strikes, with hundreds more injured. Surviving a lightning strike can mean living with lifelong neurological complications as a result, per NWS.
Earlier this month, a longtime town maintenance worker in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey survived a lightning strike while working on a soccer field. The man, Eric Baumgartner, didn’t have a pulse when officers arrived on scene but emergency crews were able to revive him with an AED.
He was rushed to an area hospital and was listed in stable condition.