BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — A Memorial Day weekend outing on Allatoona Lake turned deadly for a family after a 5-year-old died.
Just after 2:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources game wardens responded to a drowning in Clear Creek on Allatoona Lake in Bartow County.
According to witnesses, the boy, identified as Kaiden Franklin, was playing on a float in the lake and a few minutes later he was missing, a DNR spokesperson said.
The game wardens located the victim with side scan sonar in approximately six feet of water and the Bartow County Dive Team recovered the victim’s body at 4:35 p.m., they said
Model Elementary School in Rome shared the passing with its community in a Facebook post on Sunday night.
"Our deepest pain is having to share the passing of one of our own school babies," they wrote. "Our hearts are broken to have to share this news with our school family."
They said Kaiden just graduated kindergarten.
Donations for the family are being accepted at the school this week.