19-year-old father dies in lightning strike 6 months after becoming a father: “My pride and joy”

“I’m still trying to process it because that’s how it happened,” Ethan Lawrence’s girlfriend said after the accident.

A 19-year-old man has died in Davie, Florida, after being struck by lightning, just six months after becoming a father.

On Sunday, June 30, Ethan Lawrence died while running in Vista View Park, as reported by media outlets such as WTVJ, WSVN and WPLG.

According to CBS News, a lightning strike was reported in the area around 10:20 a.m. local time. The station added that a witness saw Ethan fall to the ground during the incident.

Davie Police and Fire Departments did not immediately respond to contact from PEOPLE.

Related: Family sues mother after she was killed by lightning while picking up her children from school

According to WSVN, Ethan became a father after his girlfriend Andrea Lares gave birth to a baby girl named Emara on December 11, 2023.

According to WTVJ, the deceased teenager attended Jacksonville University on a cross-country scholarship but recently transferred to Nova Southeastern University to be with his girlfriend and baby. He was also a regular runner, the newspaper reported.

“He was my pride and joy and I can’t believe I’m going to continue this life without him,” Ethan’s mother, Lourdes Lawrence, said, according to WSVN.

“We don’t understand why, but the only thing that gives me consolation is that he died doing what he loved,” she added. “Cross country runner, track runner, volleyball player, he was called up to Jacksonville University and he was making great progress.”

Andrea, Ethan’s girlfriend, said she was “still in shock,” according to the outlet. “I’m still trying to process it because it happened like that. In a matter of seconds,” she added. “He texted me in the morning, ‘Good morning honey, I woke up late today.'”

Related: Man dies after being struck by lightning while trying to rescue children from beach during thunderstorm

The outlet reported that Lourdes sent her husband Patrick to look for Ethan after the location on his phone didn’t change for hours.

“Then the detectives came to my car and told me, ‘I don’t know if there’s even an easy way to say this, so I’ll just tell you that unfortunately your son ran, got struck by lightning and didn’t make it,'” Patrick, Ethan’s father, said, according to the publication.

“I am so grateful and happy to have had 19 wonderful years with my son,” Lourdes said, according to WTVJ.

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“We had an unbreakable bond. When I was a sophomore, every morning in college, he would text me: ‘Good morning mom, I’m on my way to run with the team,’ ‘Hey mom, I’m back from running with the team, my legs feel like bricks,’ — he would just tell me about his day, Facetime me, and talk to me,” she continued.

“I gave my son a gold chain with a cross on it for his graduation,” Lourdes said, according to the newspaper, adding that Ethan took her to “where he was hit” when they visited the park after his death.

“I saw the hole in the ground and looked down, and my husband said, ‘Look, there’s his cross.’ He’s telling me, ‘Mommy, I’m fine, I’m fine, you’re fine,'” she said.

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