After a 20-year-old Los Angeles resident was identified Monday as the victim of a lightning strike in Venice Beach the previous day, his uncle was speaking about the young man's "always happy" attitude.

Nick Fagnano was believed to be swimming or surfing when he was hit by lightning near the 3500 block of South Ocean Front Walk Sunday afternoon.

He was missing for about an hour before he was found and transported to a Marina del Rey hospital, where he later died.

Fagnano was identified Monday morning by Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Fagnano had attended Santa Barbara City College and was slated to begin classes as a junior at University of Southern California in fall, according to his uncle Dennis Shanahan.

He had graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 2012. His family had recently moved to a loft in downtown L.A., and he planned to study real estate and urban development, Shanahan said.

A photo posted to his Twitter account showed Fagnano smiling in his graduation gown.

Shanahan said Fagnano, who went by Nick, was hard working, ambitious and "truly kind-hearted." He was a Catholic and faith was important to him, as were the Dodgers, Shanahan said.

"He was the most amazing kid. No one else like him," Shanahan said. "It was like he was always walking on air."

Santa Barbara City College's baseball team tweeted about the "loss of a great friend," saying Fagnano was an outstanding player and "even better person."

A service was set to be held for Fagnano at 5 p.m. Thursday at St. Brendan's Church in Hancock Park.

Fagnano was among eight people taken to the hospital after the lightning strike during a freak storm. A total of 13 were assessed at the scene.

The lightning hit the water near the pier, electrified it and zapped swimmers and surfers in the area.

"There are lightning procedures that we use in the forest area, but right here we have people having a good time on the beach," said Brian Jordan of the L.A. County Fire Department. "It was not expected"

Nick Fagnano was at Venice Beach on July 26, 2014, when he was struck by lightning and died. This was his Facebook profile photo.
Nick Fagnano was at Venice Beach on July 26, 2014, when he was struck by lightning and died. This was his Facebook profile photo.
People on the West Coast are the least likely to be struck by lightning in the U.S., according to NASA.

Those in California have a one in 7.5 million chance of being hit, while people in Florida have a one in 600,000 chance and those in Montana have a one in 250,000 chance.

Another man was also injured when he was struck by lightning on Catalina Island Sunday. He was treated at a hospital and released later that day.

Over 1,300 people were expected to be without power until noon Monday after lightning caused an outage in Manhattan Beach.

On Sunday, 300 Southern California Edison customers in Redondo Beach were also without power because of lightning.

Scattered thunderstorm activity was expected Monday.