A Tennessee man mowing his mother’s lawn died when he was struck by lightning. Darrell Hoskins, of Somerville, was nearly finished mowing his mother’s grass when it began to rain. As Hoskins was cutting the last patch of grass, a lightning bolt hit a nearby tree, arcing to Hoskins’ cellphone, which was in his shirt pocket. He died instantly.

“It’s just a freak accident,” his aunt, Barbara Steward said. “They said it was a small cloud that just popped up overhead. Just a couple pops of lightning and that was it.”

“It was unreal. I know you use that word all the time, but it was like it wasn’t real,” she added. “Still isn’t.”

One of the man’s two daughters allegedly found his body shortly afterward, Hoskins’ sister-in-law wrote on the GoFundMe page created to help the family with funeral expenses. “She ran three houses over until she found someone home and called 911,” Stephanie Skelton, Hoskins’ cousin said, referring to Hoskins’ 8-year-old daughter.

“Darrell had the sweetest, gentlest spirit,” Steward said. “Everyone loved him and he loved everybody.”