Police release name of child drowning victim
Cape Coral police have released the name of a child who drowned over the holiday weekend.
The victim was identified as Myson Noel, 12, of Lehigh Acres.
At about 2:20 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the Cape Coral Yacht Club, at 5819 Driftwood Parkway. An officer had been flagged down and advised that a child had gone missing in the water.
After an extensive search of the area by officers, members of the Cape fire department and police marine officers, divers were sent into the water. Myson was located, but he was unresponsive.
Myson was transported to a local hospital for treatment, but he was pronounced dead.
“This tragedy has devastated the parents and has struck a chord with the people all across Southwest Florida,” Sgt. Dana Coston, spokesman for the Cape police, said in a prepared statement Friday.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family,” he said.
Cape resident Mary Fuller was working a hotdog cart at the Cape Coral Yacht Club on Saturday when the incident occurred. She said it appeared that the victim had been present with three other youths.
“Then I heard somebody yelling, and they were running back and forth,” Fuller said.
The children were playing near the boat ramps and seawall near the entrance to the facility.
“That’s where the kids swim,” she said, adding that she has told her grandchildren not to swim there.
“They really need a sign there, ‘Please don’t allow your children in this area,'” Fuller said.
Soon emergency responders arrived and entered the water to search for the boy.
“I was just praying to God they weren’t going to find a body,” she said.
Fuller had her grandson with her at the time.
“About 15 minutes later, they pulled out a body,” she said. “He was very small, very fragile.”
Fuller described witnessing the experience as horrible.
“I have nine grandchildren, and I couldn’t image that happening to one of them,” she said.
Fulled pointed out that there were people everywhere, but it still occurred.
“I just think that they should have some kind of sign up there,” she said. “The water’s really shallow, but over there by the boat dock, it’s deeper.”