Police have identified the boy who went missing in the water at Cove Island Park in Stamford, authorities said.
Fire department dive teams pulled 12-year-old Rashad Gross from the water shortly after 5 p.m., performed CPR and rushed him to the hospital, said police.
Officials received the call at 1:56 p.m. Friday afternoon. The Norwalk Fire Department arrived to help out, bringing in a sonar-equipped boat, but low tide prevented them from being able to use it, fire officials said.
According to police, Gross and several of his friends were swimming in the channel between Stamford and Darien when they got caught in a strong current.
Gross' friends made it out of the water safely, but Gross was still missing.
Stamford police and fire divers searched the water for hours. Gross was found three hours later and rushed to Stamford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"Preliminary investigation shows that this is a tragic swimming accident," said Lt. Diedrich Hohn from the Stamford Police Department.
"It was just like a cool day to be at the beach," said Chrystasha Mccalla, who knows Gross from school, adding that was Gross' last day as a sixth grader at Turn of the River Middle School and one that she will always remember. "He's nice. Real sweet."
Mccalla says Gross came to the park to enjoy the weather and the water.
"People have to watch their children and so the question is, why was a 12 -year- old alone and no one knew of anything? That's the bigger question I have as a parent," said Stamford resident Henry McMillan.
Officials say they will continue to investigate the incident.
