In less than a month, two people have died after jumping from an old bridge structure at Settles Bridge Park into the Chattahoochee River.
The latest, identified Friday by the Gwinnett Medical Examiner’s Office as 20-year-old Joshua Elias Katikla, was with two friends about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when they jumped.
“It is illegal for anyone to climb on the bridge,” Gwinnett fire spokesman Tommy Rutlegde said. “It is a historic structure, according to the U.S. Park Service.”
Though one of the friends found him in apparent distress when he resurfaced, the friend couldn’t help Katikla out of the water.
Gwinnett’s swift water rescue team found him about 6:18 p.m., Rutledge said.
“He was found 2 feet beneath the surface of the water and was caught by a strainer (tree debris underwater) in a 10-foot-deep area,” Rutledge said.
Though workers performed CPR on him and rushed him to Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Katikla was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
Last month, Mountain View High School soccer player and rising senior Perez G. Tamfu died under similar circumstances.
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