An Army Reserve veteran reportedly drowned Saturday after saving his fiancé’s 6-year-old daughter from a Texas lake.

The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that the body of Brandyn Mitchell, 25, was recovered Saturday afternoon from Ray Roberts Lake, about 35 yards from shore. Denton County game wardens said Mitchell managed to get his soon-to-be stepdaughter onto a flotation device but was unable to get himself to safety.

“He was already on the float with her [Keira] when she was struggling to hang on,” Mitchell’s fiancé, Angelia Herrera, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “He helped her, told her not to let go, then slipped.”

Asia Platt, who shared two children with Mitchell, said the 25-year-old served in the U.S. Army Reserves for about six years and had a 1-year-old son with Herrera.

“He was in the process of enrolling in college to become a firefighter. He wanted to be a firefighter because he wanted to save lives. Running in when everyone is running out. He wanted to be a hero, not just once but every chance he could,” Herrera told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“Shortly put, he was an amazing man and I am lucky to have known him.”

Mitchell’s mother told the newspaper that she couldn’t understand how her son drowned as he could “swim like a fish” from being in the Army. Reports indicated that his body was recovered from water that was about five feet deep.

“He was an amazing father,” Herrera said of Mitchell. “He was loved and will be missed. No matter what, he was a hero.”

[Featured image: Brandyn Mitchell/Facebook]