Minutes after Lawrence resident Troy Gentzler had visited an abuse victim Saturday in Jefferson County, he hopped onto his motorcycle.

The avid biker and member of the northeast Kansas chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse recently had combined his passions for motorcycles and helping people in need.

As Gentzler and about a dozen other chapter members headed toward Lawrence on Saturday evening on U.S. Highway 24, the group started riding through rain. Then, in an instant, a lightning bolt struck and killed Gentzler.

“You can sum it up in one word: bizarre,” Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Herrig said.

Herrig said that just before 5 p.m. the bolt hit Gentzler, 45, who was traveling west of Perry with six other motorcyclists. Michael Robinson, 35, of Gardner, who was riding next to Gentzler, was injured, the sheriff said. Robinson was treated at a Topeka hospital and released.

Bikers Against Child Abuse is an international group that has local chapters, and its members work to support children who have been victims of physical or sexual abuse. They provide assistance in various ways, including going to court with victims for support when they have to testify.

“They do good things for the kids who are abused,” Herrig said.

Members of the northeast Kansas chapter conducted their annual April tour on Saturday, visiting victims in the area who had been with the program for several years, the chapter’s president said. They had finished their last stop before tragedy struck on the highway between Grantville and Perry.

“He was riding 60 mph. He was in a storm, and he was hit by lightning. You can put it into: What are the odds of that happening?” said the chapter’s president, known by his riding name as “Smoker.”

He requested anonymity because the chapter’s members often encounter people accused of committing both physical and sexual abuse.

Gentzler, who lived in Lawrence and worked at a Kansas City-area plant, had joined the group nearly two years ago because he wanted to help the cause. Despite his big frame, he would do his best to make the children comfortable whether they were toddler or teenagers.

“He’d get down on one knee and play with these kids,” Smoker said.