MattGush/iStock(FRAZEE, Minn.) — A Minnesota dad drowned while saving his 3-year-old who fell in a lake, according to authorities.
Christopher Schultz, 31, was at Detroit Lakes in Minnesota Saturday night when his 3-year-old fell from a bridge into the water, according to the Becker County Sheriff’s Office.
Schultz jumped into the water and “began to struggle while keeping the child above the water,” the sheriff’s office said.
Bystanders went to the water and brought the toddler to shore, but the father “never resurfaced,” the sheriff’s office said.
The child — identified by Schultz’s brother as a 3-year-old boy named Ashton — survived with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Crews immediately launched a search for Schultz. The Frazee, Minnesota, dad was found at 9:07 p.m. and taken to a hospital where he was declared dead, the sheriff’s office said.
Schultz’s brother, Ryan Olson, told the Star Tribune that Schultz was a “phenomenal swimmer” and a father of four.
“He lived and died for his kids,” Olson told the newspaper. “The man went out a hero.”
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