MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis resident Deveric Stokes Jr., better known as DJ, is being hailed a hero in the wake of his death after drowning on Lake Minnetonka.
"Its been a nightmare," said DJ's aunt Lori Wilcox.
"Him dying as a hero its not something that’s surprising," said Sahar Elmtalab, General Manager of Hai Hai Minneapolis where Stokes worked.
It all started out as a celebration, on Lake Minnetonka a week after Stokes's 29th birthday.
"He was celebrating his birthday and his best friend’s birthday on a boat and someone jumped in the water to swim," said Wilcox.
That celebration quickly turned to tragedy after witnesses say he jumped in to save a friend in distress, but somehow never made it back on board.
"I was also told that DJ swam twice in the lake earlier that day," said Wilcox. She went on to say, "we are just shocked because DJ swims and he loved the beach and he loved the water.”
Four days later, his body was recovered in Minnetonka’s lower lake, but what hasn’t recovered are the broken hearts of the people he leaves behind.
"I have some trips planned to Minnesota in August and November and I wont get to see my nephew," said a tearful Wilcox.
Known as a popular sous chef at the Hai Hai restaurant in Minneapolis, Elmtalab says every hour, every shift, Stokes was the life of the party.
"Whether he’s in the dish pit or whether he was prepping Sundays he would just blast gospel and just sing along with it," said Elmtaleb. "He just always made it more than just a job.”
With his job here on earth now complete, after paying the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of someone else, it’s that very sacrifice those he leaves behind will celebrate until they see Stokes again.
"If God had to take him, I'm grateful that he went out in water, he went out saving another’s life," said Wilcox.
"The only thing that’s been able to get me through is that maybe he was just like way too good for us, some people are just too good and that’s why they’re taken too soon," said Elmtalab.
Wilcox said Stokes moved to Minnesota a few years ago to work and create a better life for himself.
Stokes is one of three biological children his mother raised along with countless other children.
A GoFundMe page has been set up through Hai Hai Minneapolis to help his mother Leslie and the family with funeral costs.