Julian Ryan’s final words to his mother as floodwaters quickly engulfed their trailer home were simply, “I love you.”

He had made a split-second decision to thrust his arm through a window to help his fiancée, two young kids and mom escape the catastrophic flood tearing through Kerr County, Texas, swallowing everything in its path.

That last-ditch effort, an act of bravery, ultimately cost him his life. The glass had cut an artery in his arm.

Ryan’s mother held him as he bled and took his last breath, his sister, Connie Salas, told CNN.

“He went out a hero,” Salas said.