Grandfather of 7 dead after being mauled by cops

Family and friends of Brian Oliver are mourning the avid outdoorsman who died after being mauled by a bull.

The 54-year-old man from Blacksburg, South Carolina, was working with a friend repairing a fence post on a farm when a bull charged him and dragged him to a nearby stream on Saturday, April 28, where he was “trampled and mauled “said Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler in a press release obtained by PEOPLE.

CBS affiliate WSPA-TV identified the friend as Mike Carroll and said the man stabbed the bull with a knife to get the animal to turn its attention away from Oliver.

The bull then attacked Carroll, who was later flown to a hospital in Lancaster, where he recovered, Fowler said.

Oliver, a father of two and grandfather of seven, suffered “extreme” injuries as a result of the attack, including two collapsed lungs, broken ribs, broken shoulder bones, a broken neck and multiple spinal fractures, his family said in a GoFundMe.

After three days in the intensive care unit at Spartanburg Medical Center, Oliver died on May 2 surrounded by his family, his daughter Cheyenne Oliver said in a message on the fundraising page.

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Now relatives are mourning the loss of the patriarch who dedicated his life to his family.

“Not only does it break my heart that my sister and I lost our father early in life, it breaks my heart even more that our children are losing their papaya,” Oliver’s other daughter, Megan Danielle Hughes, wrote on Facebook. “Our children were his whole world and they all loved each other so much. He really was the best pawpaw she could ever imagine.”

Funeral arrangements are still being finalized at Hopewell Baptist Church in Blacksburg.

An autopsy will be performed to assist in the investigation into the tragic incident, Fowler said.