CORNELIUS, N.C. — A man’s body has been recovered from Lake Norman after first responders were called for a reported drowning.
Multiple fire departments and other first responders were called to Nautique Boulevard at the Sailpointe at Lake Norman apartments in Cornelius Tuesday evening.
Sonar equipment was being used in the search for a man who was in the water.
The Cornelius Police Department said Wednesday that officers are investigating the incident as a drowning.
“There are divers on scene as well as remotely operated underwater robots,” Cornelius Fire stated Tuesday night. “The crews will work as long and as hard as they can tonight. The search will continue until resolution or it’s no longer safe for them to continue.”
The search continued until 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night and resumed around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
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Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz was near the water when rescue crews moved the victim’s body from a boat just before 1 p.m. The coroner was also at the scene.
‘A lot of calls for cliff jumpers’
Horace Worley lives at the apartment complex that borders the rocks where police say the victim jumped from. Worley told Goetz that there was a party at one apartment Tuesday, and a group walked from there to the rocks before jumping in the lake.
He says the 19-year-old victim was part of that group.
“He dove in, he came back up and one of the girls that they were partying with tried to help him up, tried to assist him, but he was frantic, he was splashing, he was really scared,” Worley said.
Cornelius police told Goetz they’ve been called to this area before.
“We do get a lot of calls for cliff jumpers; I haven’t experienced one where it turns into a drowning,” said Capt. Jennifer Thompson with CPD. “Our lake patrol units and road units patrol through there a lot because it is such a dangerous area.”
The rocks are surrounded by fencing and signs that say no trespassing, but neighbors say they still see people jump every day. Worley says that has to change.
“Something has to be done because if it’s not one, it’s going to be two,” Worley said. “I just hope the people who own that land figure out a way.”
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