STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Heidi Montag's stepbrother was killed in a freak accident in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain News reports.
Eric O'Hara died last Thursday as he was trying to clear snow from the roof of the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel, where he had recently started working after being discharged from the Army. O'Hara was 24.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, O'Hara was up on the snow-covered roof of the resort and had just released a safety clip in order to move along a rope attached to him for protection. A piece of ice then broke loose, causing O'Hara to slide down the sloped roof and fall over the edge.
O'Hara was discharged from the Army in the last month following a 15-month deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
"Losing my brother, at an early age, is such a tragedy," the 21-year-old Montag, star of MTV's "The Hills," said in a statement released through her rep.
"I just loved him more than anything," her statement continued. "He was just so patriotic. He really wanted to go to Iraq and help and do all that he could for his country. He felt like it was his duty. I'll really miss him."
O'Hara's mother, Terri, is married to Montag's father Bill.
"Having made it through 15 months in Iraq, and then to have this happen ... it's really tough," O'Hara's uncle, Dave Patston, told the News.
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