{"id":389398,"date":"2026-07-28T18:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/389398\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T18:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:06:08","slug":"authorities-identify-5-year-old-jourdanton-isd-student-as-boy-who-drowned-at-port-aransas-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/389398\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities identify 5-year-old Jourdanton ISD student as boy who drowned at Port Aransas beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">PORT ARANSAS, Texas \u2013 UPDATE (7\/28\/2026): Authorities have identified a 5-year-old boy who drowned at a Port Aransas beach last week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Port Aransas Police Chief James D. Stokes identified the child Tuesday to KSAT as Benny Arredondo. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">A Jourdanton Independent School District spokesperson, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JourdantonISD\/posts\/pfbid02mYjgLBXQqVS75LvVgQ4QKtiTW4SbbEyrRPyVCtCgwP3CneDN4WeQ86jLWtNguAhSl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JourdantonISD\/posts\/pfbid02mYjgLBXQqVS75LvVgQ4QKtiTW4SbbEyrRPyVCtCgwP3CneDN4WeQ86jLWtNguAhSl\">identified Arredondo as one of its kindergarten students in a Monday social media post<\/a>, also confirmed to KSAT that the boy was the same child who drowned in Port Aransas. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cThere are no words that can ease the pain of such a heartbreaking loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with Benny\u2019s family, friends, classmates, teachers, and all who knew and loved him,\u201d the district\u2019s social media post said. \u201cPlease continue to keep Benny\u2019s family in your thoughts and prayers as they navigate the days ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The school district is located approximately 40 miles south of San Antonio. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">ORIGINAL STORY: A 5-year-old drowned at a Port Aransas beach on Wednesday, July 22, according to the city\u2019s police department. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Port Aransas police responded around 5:35 p.m. to Beach Marker 46 after receiving reports that a child had been pulled from the water and was not breathing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden began CPR on the child before Port Aransas police arrived. The child was taken to the hospital, where they later died, the police department said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Police said the child\u2019s grandparents lost sight of the child while getting ready to leave the beach. The child was later found in the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cThis tragedy serves as a heartbreaking reminder that young children can disappear from sight in only moments, and constant, uninterrupted supervision around the water is essential,\u201d Chief James Stokes said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The police department said the drowning remains under investigation in coordination with the Nueces County Medical Examiner. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The Port Aransas Police Department encourages all beach visitors to practice water safety by: <\/p>\n<p>Maintaining constant arm\u2019s-length supervision of young children<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring children who cannot swim wear a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket whenever they are near or in the water<\/p>\n<p>Never relying solely on flotation devices as a substitute for adult supervision<\/p>\n<p>Designating a responsible adult to actively watch children whenever they are in or around the water<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Read also:<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KSAT &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ARANSAS, Texas \u2013 UPDATE (7\/28\/2026): Authorities have identified a 5-year-old boy who drowned at a Port Aransas&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,2412,137176,137175,5790,7805],"class_list":["post-389398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-drowning","tag-jourdanton","tag-jourdanton-isd","tag-nueces-county","tag-port-aransas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}