A California man was killed after rescuing his family from a house fire on Christmas morning.
On Wednesday (Dec. 25), the Oakland Fire Department was dispatched at around 6:15 am to a burning home, where they found the victim, idenfied as Steven Weatherford Jr., unconscious.
Loved ones said Weatherford, who was nicknamed “gummy bear,” was visiting his family’s home in Oakland to celebrate Christmas when the fire broke out.
“This is a yearly celebration. And when I say yearly, I mean going on for 40, 50 years. It’s not one of those things where it’s every other year,” Weatherford’s aunt, Eunice Smith, said.
According to authorities, Weatherford rescued his father, aunt, and brother from the house fire. He reportedly went back inside the home to grab an engagement ring that was in the safe. Family members said he was planning to propose to his girlfriend on New Year’s Eve.
“He was gonna propose, yeah,” Weatherford’s girlfriend, LaShante Mayo, said. “I didn’t know, they told me this morning…I had given up on love until I had met him.”
According to officials, the cause of the fire appears to be accidental. Loved ones have started a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses.
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