A Texas man died after being swarmed from head to toe by bees while mowing his lawn, police said.
Thomas Hicks, 70, was mowing his lawn Monday when he was attacked by a “very aggressive” swarm of bees, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Firefighters and medical professionals attempted to provide emergency care, but the severity of the stings sent Hicks into cardiac arrest outside of his home in Breckenridge, Texas, 130 miles outside of Dallas.
Hick’s wife, Zoni Hicks, told local NBC affiliate KRBC, that she was shopping for groceries while her husband was mowing the yard. (RELATED: Man Returns To Car To Find 15,000 Angry Bees In His Backseat)
“I said, “Honey, please don’t go back in the back area, because those bees are back there,” and he said “I won’t, I promise,” Zoni told KRBC.
Thomas Hicks, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Breckenridge Fire Department, Hicks was severely stung and went into cardiac arrest. Hick’s wife Zoni says she had just left to shop for groceries when her husband began to mow the yard. https://t.co/2RnzdVB2ta
— KAMR Local 4 News (@KAMRLocal4News) April 29, 2021
When she returned, Thomas was jumping up and down, covered in bees.
“You couldn’t even see his back and his whole head — he was just covered,” she said.
The swarm of bees also stung Zoni, who was released from the hospital after. She told KRBC that she was very thankful for the first responders on the scene, even though they were not able to bring her husband back.
Joey Venecamp, the beekeeper who removed the hive from the home said that it had around 60,000 bees inside of it, Metro reports.
Firefighters on scene found the hive in a tree and killed the bees by spraying foam onto them