FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The body of a 15-year-old boy who disappeared while swimming in a Fort Lauderdale lake Wednesday night has been found.
According to the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Department, the teen was swimming in a lake near the 2000 block of Northeast 16th Street.
Firefighters said the boy's two friends saw the teen struggling in the middle of the lake as they were swimming to shore and did not see him come up after he went under.
"He got a cramp while swimming and he just couldn't make it across, and by the time, like, we found out, we went in there and we couldn't find him," friend Ian Lyons said. "He was, like, already sunken."
Divers searched for the teen and later found his body. He has been identified as Fritznel Pierre, a soon-to-be junior at Fort Lauderdale High School.
"Someone, like, saw him drown, but they just, like, couldn't help him or something, so we went in," Lyons said. "We tried to help him, (but) we couldn't find him. We then got the fire station."
A large group of students from his school showed up at the lake Thursday morning to leave flowers, stuffed animals and pictures of Lyons.