PEMBROKE PINES – A teen was killed in an apparent lightning strike in Pembroke Pines on Wednesday afternoon, according to Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue.
The teen was reportedly riding his bike home from band practice when he stopped in a neighborhood just south of Pines Boulevard off SW 67 Avenue.
Zandra Laguna said just after 5 p.m. she went out front to call in her cat and noticed a boy across the street.
“The boy was like standing right in front of my house on the other side of the street and he just looked at me. It looked like he was waiting for someone. He was on his bike. He wasn’t riding. He was just standing on his bike,” she said.
She said a few moments later a storm moved in.
“Then all of a sudden, there was a huge lightning that struck. I went inside because it was really, really loud. I got scared,” said Laguna.
She said a few minutes later she went back outside, just as an ambulance arrived.
“I saw the rescue stop right in front of where that boy was, and then I see them picking him up from the floor, and he just looked like, I had a feeling it was that the lightning struck him,” said Laguna.
Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue said when their crew arrived, the teen was in the grass under a tree and not moving. They said he was in cardiac arrest and the EMTs treated him accordingly. The teen was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital as a trauma alert.
Fire rescue said while they don’t have confirmation yet, it did appear as though the teen had been struck by lightning due to the burn wounds on his chest and inner thighs.
