Friends gathered Wednesday night at a Cobb County park to remember the 20-year-old who drowned in the Chattahoochee River.
The body of Niles Young, 20, of Smyrna, was recovered Wednesday afternoon, about 20 hours after he went under the water while swimming, Cobb County police said.
Young was Sandy Point Park at 3700 Akers Drive on Tuesday afternoon when he became distressed attempting to swim across the river, Officer Alicia Chilton said.
A 911 caller reported at 4:21 p.m. Tuesday that people in the river needed help, Chilton said.
The swift water rescue team was able to remove one person from the water, and a second was able to make it to a small island, Denell Boyd, spokeswoman for the fire department, said Tuesday afternoon. But Young was not located, and the search was called off Tuesday evening due to darkness.
Cobb divers, a DNR team and federal park rangers returned to the area Wednesday morning to recover the body, which was found around 2:20 p.m. about 40 yards from where Young was last seen.
Late Wednesday, a candlelight vigil was held for Young, who graduated from Wheeler High School, at East Cobb Park. Young played basketball at Wheeler with Daniel Giddens, who signed to play with Ohio State.
“He always had a way of putting a smile on everyone’s face,” Giddens said. “I’m going to miss him very much. He was a great person.”
Young was the first person to drown this year on the Chattahoochee in metro Atlanta, a DNR spokesman said.
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