15-Year-Old Killed, Four Injured in Lightning Strike on Colorado Peak

A family is mourning the loss of a 15-year-old who was killed by a lightning strike last week on a Colorado mountain. Here are the details on this tragic situation.

Barrage of Lightning Strikes Leads to Death of Colorado Teen

A teenage boy lost his life, and four other people were injured during a lightning storm in Colorado over the weekend. Local officials said that Levi Strobel died and his younger brother suffered serious injuries when lightning struck the summit of Mount Blue Sky on Sunday afternoon.

The Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office confirmed that they fielded a report at about 1:20 pm MDT about injuries on the 14,000-foot summit, located to the west of Denver. A witness said that they saw the strike and heard calls for help shortly after.

Colorado Flight for Life airlifted the victim's 13-year-old brother to a hospital in Denver. Three other adults sustained minor injuries and were evaluated by medical teams on the scene. Several crews responded to the site of the strike, including Denver Mountain Parks, Alpine Rescue Team, Clear Creek Fire Authority, U.S. Forest Service, Clear Creek EMS, and members of the sheriff's department.

The Strobel family is from the Denver suburb of Erie. The family released a statement after the event, praising Levi for being a hero and trying to protect his younger brother Jace. The family said that "In his final moments, Levi showed the courage and selflessness that characterized his life, seeking to protect his younger brother, who was with him on the mountain. He was a brave and loving brother, and we will always remember the devotion he showed to those he loved."

A sudden burst of electrical activity in the vicinity of the towering summit was recorded just seconds before the emergency call. According to the Accuweather Lightning Network, there were 29 lightning strikes detected within five miles of the summit over the period of just 13 minutes from 1:21 to 1:34 MDT. Of those strikes, 19 were cloud-to-ground strikes.

The first bolt hit the ground at 1:21 pm, roughly 0.3 miles from the summit. Four additional cloud-to-ground strikes happened within half a mile of the Mount Blue Sky summit in two seconds.