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By Fred Guarino
The Lowndes Signal

A Sunday evening accidental drowning victim at Holy Ground Battlefield Park has been identified as 17-year-old Lucas Pantaleon of Montgomery, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.
Lt. G. Lashun Hutson of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, who identified the victim, said Pantaleon drowned Sunday evening at the Holy Ground Beach.

Hutson said victim swam into the water to the buoy. “He had went past the area where he should be swimming. He was out where the boat buoys were,” Hutson said.

He said the victim’s sister said, “It seemed that he had been pretending to be drowning all day and flapping his arms. But this particular time it was real. He went down and he didn’t come back up.”

Hutson said the incident was an “accidental drowning… no foul play involved.”

He said the body was recovered today (Monday morning).

Martha T. Earnhardt of the Montgomery Department of Public Safety said the Montgomery Department of Public Safety Dive and Rescue Team responded to the site about 8:30 a.m. today (Monday) after receiving a request for assistance from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office through Montgomery City/County EMA.

“ Dive team members examined the scene, interviewed witnesses and were able to locate the body of the missing teenager within about 15 minutes of entering the water,” she said.

Earnhardt said, “The victim, a 17-year-old male, was at Holy Ground Sunday for a family outing when he disappeared beneath the water’s surface. His body was found in about 13 feet of water.”

The park, located at 300 Battlefield Road, Lowndesboro, is maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is located off U.S. 80 between Montgomery and Selma near the community of White Hall.