COBB COUNTY, GA — A father of three from metro Atlanta is remembered as a hero after drowning while rescuing several people from rip currents off the South Carolina coast.

38-year-old Chase Childers of Dallas was pulled from water off Pawley’s Island.

Police say he ran into the water to help five people, but he got caught in the current and died.

His family says Childers is a former Cobb County police officer, who had received a lifetime achievement award for saving lives.

“It feels surreal, incredibly hard to grasp, and profoundly unfair,” his family wrote online. “As a devoted husband and father, he displayed extraordinary courage and selflessness.”

The family has created a GoFundMe campaign to support his wife and children.