Youngest high school graduate from Colorado electrocuted in accident in Virginia: “He was just a very special person”

Alex Schwab spent a lot of time snowboarding and living with Jesse Hamric, the recent graduate of Steamboat Springs High School.

“He’s always really happy. And encouraging,” said Schwab. “He’s been a close snowboarding friend of mine for about three years. He even lived with me for a while.”

He says Hamric has a bright future ahead of him.

“It looked really good. Honestly. He was so talented and always acted like he was always trying to be the one to try, you know?” Schwab said.

But tragically, all of this was cut short. On July 4, Hamric was visiting friends and family in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. He was in the lake and was possibly electrocuted by stray voltage from a private dock. Friends and first responders tried to save him, but to no avail.

Schwab says this is a huge loss for Steamboat and the snowboarding community.

“Our whole snowboarding community has really come together,” Schwab said. “It’s just such a tragic thing.”

And for Schwab personally it is painful.

“Honestly, he was just a very special person. A very special person to me,” he said. “I miss him. And I love him.”

Schwab hopes that both the Steamboat and snowboarding communities will continue to stand together to support his family and friends during this difficult time: “It’s just such a tragic thing, you know? But it’s also nice how everyone is coming together on social media and stuff.”