A young man from Amarillo lost his life while swimming at Lake Greenbelt Sunday afternoon.
Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said 17-year-old Justin Angel Salazar had been at the lake with his girlfriend, her brother, and another friend since last Friday and was north of Sandy Beach when the accident occurred.
“He was swimming in that area and couldn’t make it back (to shore),” the sheriff said. “One of his friends tried to help him, but he was fighting too hard, which drowning people often do.”
The 911 call came in at 12:39 p.m., and the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department Dive Team was dispatched along with the sheriff’s office, Associated Ambulance Authority, Game Wardens, and Greenbelt Lake Patrol.
The Dive Team recovered Salazar’s body at 1:47 p.m. in water 11 to 12 feet deep and 25 feet from shore. Justice of the Peace Ann Kennedy pronounced the young man dead at 2:08 p.m.
An autopsy was scheduled in Lubbock at press time Tuesday.
Salazar becomes the 23rd person to drown at Lake Greenbelt since it opened in 1968 and is the 14th person to be recovered by the Dive Team since it organized in 1998.
To date no one has drowned while wearing a lifejacket.
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