Expand / Collapse search
☰

Funeral arrangements announced for Atlanta teen who drowned saving others

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published  April 19, 2023 7:57am EDT
Atlanta
FOX 5 Atlanta

Parents remember Atlanta son who drowned saving children as hero

Family and friends are mourning at 16-year-old high school student from Atlanta, as well as a father who died trying to save others over Spring Break in Florida. FOX 5 was there when Bryce Brook's parents shared their son's story.

ATLANTA - A 16-year-old Atlanta boy who died while trying to rescue several children from a strong current during spring break will be laid to rest this weekend.

On April 6, Bryce Brooks and his parents were on a family trip to Pensacola, Florida. The teen was hanging out with family friends when they saw a group of four children struggling in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Our children witnessed four other kids who they did not know being pulled by the current further out to the sea," Bryce's father Shivy Brooks told FOX 5. "Our boys sprung into action."

Bryce, along with two others, went into the water. Three other boys ran to the adults for help.

"At that time of being selfless, our son Bryce … while being pulled by currents himself … literally called for help, but not for himself," Shivy recalled as his wife shed tears next to him. "He was calling for help for the little kids he was looking out for."

(Photos submitted by family)

Tragically, the teen was pulled under while trying to help the strangers.

Charles Johnson II, a close family friend Bryce called "Uncle Chuck," tried to save the teen, but he was pulled under as well. Johnson's child also attends Maynard Jackson High school and will now walk the halls without a peer and father.

Strangers pulled both Brooks and Johnson out of the water. The two were airlifted to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

The teen's family says they are devastated by the loss.

"We're never gonna get to see Bryce grow up to be the full man that he was going to be," Bryce's mother Crystal Brooks said. "But, we know that he stepped into his manhood to save these children, and that makes me proud. It doesn't take away an ounce of pain, but it makes me proud of our son." 

A homecoming service for Brooks is set for Saturday at noon at Maynard Jackson High School.

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $102,000 for the funeral expenses and to help start the Bryce Brooks Foundation to teach other young people how to swim, CPR training, and other tools to help save lifves.