UPDATE: The King County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Deon Winters, who died May 30. Cause of death is listed as accidental drowning.
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(Original report from May 30)
A Federal Way man is in critical condition after rescue crews pulled him from Lake Easter, located off South 308th Street.
South King Fire and Rescue responded to a call at 2:55 p.m. Thursday from a resident who saw the man take off his shirt, enter the lake and struggle.
The witness guided rescue swimmers to the northeast corner of the lake where the man had gone under. At 3:25 p.m., rescue swimmers found the man submerged in 6 to 8 feet of water. He was located about 50 to 75 feet from the shore, according to Assistant Fire Chief Gordie Olson.
Rescue workers pulled the 19-year-old man to shore and revived his heartbeat. The victim, a resident of a nearby apartment complex, was transported to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. SKFR is awaiting an update on his condition. His name has not been released.
“We don’t know the circumstances that caused him to go out into the lake or what ultimately caused him to struggle,” Olson said. “I couldn’t guess on his survivability at this point. We’re all kind of waiting ourselves.”
Nearly one-quarter of the SKFR crew is trained in surface water rescue. The four rescue swimmers on the scene were reaching the point of exhaustion when they finally found the victim, who had been underwater an estimated 25 minutes, Olson said.
