{"id":338586,"date":"2026-07-13T16:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/338586\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:45:08","slug":"chicago-man-who-couldnt-swim-drowns-in-deep-end-of-florida-pool-deputies-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/338586\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago man who couldn&#8217;t swim drowns in deep end of Florida pool, deputies say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GAINESVILLE, Fla. (CBS12)  \u2014 A 20-year-old Chicago man <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/drowning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">drowned <\/a>after getting into the deep end of a <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Gainesville%20City\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gainesville <\/a>community pool, even though he didn&#8217;t know how to swim, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/operation-get-em-gator-nets-25-arrests-for-sex-offender-registry-violations-in-florida-fdles-missing-persons-and-offender-enforcement-division-jacksonville-regional-operations-center-gainesville-field-office-partnered-alachua-county-sheriffs-office\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alachua County Sheriff&#8217;s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff&#8217;s office said that Gildan Cornelious entered the deep end of the pool at Hidden Oaks Mobile Home Park with an 11-year-old child Saturday evening. While the child was able to get out of the water safely, Cornelious never resurfaced.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies said they were called to the pool at 100 Castle Drive around 6:25 p.m. on July 12 to a report of a possible drowning. When they arrived, they found Cornelious unresponsive underwater in the deep end.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies jumped into the pool, pulled him from the water, and began <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Cardiopulmonary%20Resuscitation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CPR <\/a>and other life-saving measures, including the use of an automated external defibrillator, according to the news release. Alachua County Fire Rescue took Cornelious to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n<p>According to the sheriff&#8217;s office, surveillance video and witness interviews showed Cornelious and the child entered the deep end together. Investigators later learned that neither of them knew how to swim.<\/p>\n<p>An adult who arrived at the pool moments later noticed Cornelious underwater and immediately called <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Call%20911\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">911<\/a>, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/south-florida-crime-news-victim-left-bloodied-after-woman-punches-her-in-failed-scooter-robbery-el-bodegon-grocery-store-e-scooter-theft-palm-beach-county-jail-robbery-without-a-firearm-or-weapon-bloody-nose\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Victim left bloodied after woman punches her in failed scooter robbery<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Detectives said there are no signs of foul play, and the death appears to be an accidental drowning.<\/p>\n<p>The District Eight Medical Examiner&#8217;s Office will perform an autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of death. The sheriff&#8217;s office also said it is working with victim advocates to provide counseling resources for the 11-year-old child, who witnessed the incident.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation remains active, although deputies said no criminal activity is suspected.<\/p>\n<p>Living in <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida <\/a>means being around water year-round. Safety experts encourage children and adults to take swim lessons, avoid swimming alone, and stay in areas where they can comfortably stand and exit the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 20-year-old Chicago man drowned after getting into the deep end of a Gainesville&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-338586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}