According to a USA TODAY report, a 24-year-old California man was electrocuted and died while hanging Christmas lights last Thursday.
According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, Antonio Pascual was hanging Christmas lights the morning of Nov. 21 on a roof in Escondido.
He was hanging the lights near a high voltage powerline and when he threw the lights over the powerline, he was electrocuted.
Someone called 911 and when paramedics arrived, they found Pascual “hanging upside down from a tree,” the medical examiner’s office said.
Paramedics tried to save him and took him to the nearest hospital, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The medical examiner ruled his death a high voltage electrocution, according to a news release from the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to Juan Pascual, who started a GoFundMe fundraiser in honor of the 24-year-old, Antonio Pascual was trapped in the tree for an hour because first responders had to wait for the power company to turn off the power.
By then, it was too late to save him, the fundraiser read.
The fundraiser organizer said the family would like to transport the man from California to Guatemala, his birthplace, for burial. That’s also where his mother lives.
According to the organizer, Pascual took good care of his mother and family, and Christmas lights will forever mean something special to his family.
“He was a brother, a son and (an) uncle,” the fundraiser read. “He had so much to live (for), only 24 years old. Forever young he will remain.”