TUNICA COUNTY, Mississippi — A young man suffered a drowning death after accepting a bet from his friends to swim across a 30-foot lake, on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Police identified the victim as J.W. Ransom. His family says he was 19 years old.
Family says he was set to graduate from high school next month.
Ransom was visiting his “friends” hanging out at the Cypress Lake Apartments off Casino Center Drive extension, when it all happened.
The drowning happened on Facebook Live. In the video Ransom’s friends can be heard edging him to jump in the water, calling him a scary azz when he worried about a turtle in the water and telling him that viewers were leaving because they didn’t believe his “Fat azz would do it.” He was called a “Soft Azz” and many other names to convince him to jump in the pond, and swim across for $250.
“That’s a hurting feeling. Seeing him go down in the water, yelling for help but nobody could help him,” Family friend Grenisha Rogers said.
Friends told Ransom that if he drowned they would come and get him. Those friends actually did try to save Ransom but the water was too deep.
“When the firefighter came over, they told us it’s a drop off and it’s 30 feet deep,” Rogers said. The pond has swamp type of mud at the bottom.
Ransom also leaves behind a child.
“…He has a child. He has a seven-month-old. So, that’s just a hurting feeling that nobody wants…” Rogers said.
The investigation of what lead Ransom to jumping into the lake is still being investigated. Sources say the person filming was actually Ransom’s brother.
Although he was 19-years-old he was still a teen who was obviously highly influenced by his friends. Since he knew how to swim, I can’t say swimming across the lake for $200 was dumb. However, he obviously wasn’t that great of a swimmer. I also wonder why a pond or lake would be so deep inside of an apartment complex where kids would live.
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