A 6-year-old boy in Texas has died from a lightning strike weeks after his father was killed in the same incident
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- A 6-year-old boy in Texas died weeks after he and his father were struck by lightning on their driveway.
- Grayson Boggs was holding his father's hand when the incident happened, per a GoFundMe page.
- His father, 34-year-old Matthew Boggs, was killed instantly by the lightning strike.
A 6-year-old boy in Valley Mills, Texas, died weeks after he and his father were struck by lightning while they were walking down their driveway.
Grayson Boggs, his brother Elijah Boggs, and their father Matthew Boggs had just gotten off a bus on May 15 when the incident happened, per a GoFundMe page set up by their family members.
Grayson and his father were holding hands "when lightning came out of the sky without warning, and entered Matthew's body and traveled to Grayson," per the GoFundMe page.
Elijah, 11, told local news station KWTX on May 17 that he thought the two of them "were just joking" when they fell to the ground.
"I was really scared. I rolled Grayson over and he was kind of smiling a little bit. I thought they were just joking, but when I rolled my dad over, the middle of his head was bleeding and his face was already purple," Elijah said.
Matthew, 34, was killed instantly, per his obituary, while his son was rushed to the Children's Hospital in Temple, Texas, per the GoFundMe page.
Matthew's mother, Angela Boggs, told KWTX on May 17 that Matthew and Grayson shared a sweet exchange in their final moments together.
"He just got done telling Grayson — he said, 'I love you buddy.' That's when the lightning came down," Angela said.
Grayson experienced damage to his frontal lobe and his optic nerve. He succumbed to his injuries about a month after the incident.
"Grayson went to be with our Lord and his father at 5:05 am today. Please pray for the family at this time. Fly high, sweet boy. #graysonstrong," Stephanie Burris, a relative of the family, wrote in an update posted to the GoFundMe page on June 16.
Burris did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
As of June 19, the GoFundMe set up for Grayson Boggs is still active. It has raised $93,352 out of its $100,000 goal.
An average of 28 people die each year in the US from lightning strikes, per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The states of Florida, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, and Alabama have the most lightning-related deaths.
According to the National Weather Service, no outdoor space is safe during a thunderstorm. The organization recommends that people seek shelter in a safe building or a hard-topped metal vehicle as soon as they hear thunder.
It also advises those who are caught outside during a thunderstorm to avoid open areas, tall trees, towers, and utility poles since lightning tends to strike taller objects.
For those who are stuck outside in large groups, the National Weather Service recommends everyone spread out. Although this increases the chance that someone might get struck, it tends to prevent multiple casualties.