Texas boy dies from lightning weeks after same bolt killed father near school bus stop

A Texas boy has died after he was struck by lightning last month while walking home from school with his father.

Grayson Boggs’ death was the fifth lightning fatality of the year in the U.S. and the second in Texas.

Matthew Boggs, the 6-year-old’s father, was the state’s first this year.

It was just after 5 p.m. May 15 in the small Central Texas town of Valley Mills when the bus arrived to drop off Grayson from kindergarten and his 11-year-old brother Elijah.

As the three walked up their heart-shaped driveway, Elijah went to the left while his father and Grayson went to the right. 

Grayson was holding his father’s hand when lightning struck.

“He just got done telling Grayson, ‘I love you, buddy,’ and that’s when the lightning hit,” said Angeli Boggs, Grayson’s grandmother.

The force of the strike knocked the shoes off the both of them as they landed face down on the pavement.

When family members rolled Grayson’s father over, he was already blue.

They started CPR on Grayson while a neighbor started life-saving measures on his father.

Matthew Boggs didn’t survive.

For the last four weeks, Grayson has been at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center fighting for his life.

Family members said prayers came in from around the world while he was in a coma.

They said doctors told the family that Grayson’s condition would not improve, and a decision was made to remove him from his ventilator Tuesday.

Family members said Grayson died at 5:05 a.m. CDT Friday.

A GoFundMe was established to help family members pay for funeral arrangements.

According to the National Lightning Safety Council, the U.S. averages five lightning fatalities through June 15 based on the past 10 years.