A 14-year-old boy was found unresponsive at the bottom of a high school swimming pool in northwest Indiana.
Police officers responded to Calumet High School in unincorporated Gary the evening of Sept. 11, for a report of a possible drowning, the Lake County sheriff’s office said in a statement.
A 14-year-old boy, whose identity has not been released at this time, was found unresponsive at the bottom of the pool, which was opened to players after football practice. He was rushed to Community Hospital in Munster for treatment, police said.
He was later airlifted to the University of Chicago Medical Center and pronounced dead early Sept. 12, reported Fox 32 Chicago.
“Today, we have all been traumatized,” said the high school’s superintendent Sharon Shirley. “Losing a student is at the top of my list of the worst things to possibly happen.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident.
Three Siblings Drown at Texas Beach
Three siblings from Indiana drowned last month while swimming at a Texas beach.
The tragedy took place at at Sylvan Beach in LaPorte, Texas, around 7 p.m. on Aug. 8. A beach visitor told Houston Chronicle that four siblings were playing on rocks near waves “big enough to surf” before a wave crashed over them and swept them away.
The children’s father dove in the water to save them. Another woman jumped in and managed to pull the 10-year old boy to the surface. First responders took several hours searchings for the three other children, but were only able to retrieve their bodies. They later identified the three drowned children as Zania Hunter, 13, Zakai Hunter, 11 and Zion “Ziggy” Harris, 7, all from Indianapolis.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter that the children possibly “went beyond a water safety buoy.” He also told Houston Chronicle there is speculation that a large boat may have passed, causing a wave to overcome the children.
“I’m kind of broken right now, I guess. I’m just quite broken. I didn’t expect to have to feel this way because it’s my child,” said Virginia Anthony, Zion’s mother, reported CNN.
“I’ve never had to do this in my life. And I’ve never been around anyone who has.”
Virginia adds that while she mourns, her biggest priority now is her oldest son, who witnessed the incident.
“My heart’s broken the most because of him. He’s too young to have to see this happen,” she said.
