Camera operator dies from injuries sustained in Dec. 30 fire in Goose Creek

GOOSE CREEK — Jeremy Shultz, a free-lance camera operator who traveled the country shooting sports for national networks, died this morning from injuries sustained in a Dec. 30 fire.

Shultz was 37.

Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury said Shultz died at 5:39 a.m. at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta.

Shultz has been in critical condition at the hospital since he sustained burns over 90 percent of his body while trying to save his Goose Creek home from a fire.

Goose Creek fire officials said Shultz suffered the burns early on Dec. 30 as he tried to move a gasoline container from flames that had engulfed the back porch of his house at 801 Edmonton Circle.

The container ignited when he tried to move it, family members said.

Shultz’s girlfriend, MaryAnn Hernandez, covered Shultz in a blanket to smother the flames and then rushed him, their 3-year-old son, Dallas, and her 11-year-old daughter, Cinnamin, out of the burning house.

Shultz was a network camera operator who has covered NFL and NCAA football, as well as NCAA basketball, for CBS Sports and ESPN. He was scheduled to work several bowl games over the New Year’s holiday.

Friends and colleagues of Jeremy Shultz established "Jeremy’s Fund" through a 501(c)(3) charity to help support him and his family after they lost everything in the blaze.

Tax-deductible contributions to Jeremy’s Fund can be made at www.jeremysfund.org or by sending checks to Bryant Bank, Attn: Heike Harris for Jeremy’s Fund, 1550 McFarland Blvd. North, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35406.