ATLANTA — A candlelight vigil will be held this week for a 16-year-old Georgia high schooler who died while trying to rescue several children from a strong current in Florida.
The vigil itself will be held Tuesday at Grant Park, starting at 7 p.m. There will also be a homegoing Saturday, April 22, at noon at the Maynard Jackson High School gym, where Brooks attended.
Bryce Brooks lost his life after jumping into the ocean in Escambia County, Florida near Pensacola, his family said.
They added that his rescue efforts happened last week when four young children he didn't know were caught in a strong current at the beach.
"Our boy sprung to action," Alfred "Shivy" Brooks, Bryce's father, said. "In that time of being selfless, our son Bryce, while being pulled by currents himself, called for help -- not for himself but for the kids he was looking out for."
Charles "Chuck" Johnson, a friend of the Brooks family, was also there and tried to go after Bryce, but went under too. Bryce calls Johnson "Uncle Chuck."
"He's a person that looks after everyone. Everyone," Shivy said. "That he would give up his life in an attempt to save Bryce's life; it's everything I expect and I know about that man."
Johnson was a husband and a father to three children.
Last week, a 12-year-old boy named Rashad Williams died after being placed on life-support after being swept up by the same current.