MACOMB COUNTY, MI (WCMH) — Joshua Traylor didn’t know how to swim, but that didn’t stop him from jumping into the water to save a 3-year-old boy.

According to NBC affiliate WDIV, the boy was feeding ducks near the Clinton River in Macomb County when he slipped and fell into the water. Traylor, who was a friend to the boy’s mother, jumped in to save the child, even though he didn’t know how to swim, WJBK reports.

A fisherman nearby was then able to rescue the boy. Traylor was pulled from the river a while later. He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

His family calls him a hero.

“His heart is huge and he always felt he had to help somebody,” the man’s father, Anthony Traylor, told WJBK.