18-year-old Port Orchard man drowns at Long Lake

An 18-year-old Port Orchard man drowned Tuesday evening near the public boat ramp on Long Lake.

Zerian Moore was swimming with a friend at 6 p.m. near the public boat ramp on SE Clover Valley Road, according to South Kitsap’s Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Jon Gudmundsen.

Moore and a friend were swimming towards the center of the lake when the two became separated, Gudmundsen said. The friend eventually noticed Moore was no longer on the surface of the lake and swam back to the dock to look for him.

Bystanders noticed Moore was swimming by the “wake buoy,” but did not say that Moore looked distressed. The friend and bystanders swam to the last place Moore was seen and found him 50 feet from the boat dock and submerged in about 8 feet of water, SKFR reported.

Bystanders involved in the search and rescue used a surfboard to bring him to the shore and initiated CPR.

SKFR reported that Moore was under water for about 10 minutes.

Medics arrived and transported Moore to Harrison Hospital in Bremerton. He was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. Kitsap County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wilson said Wednesday that the inital cause of death was accidental drowning. Wilson does not believe any drugs or alcohol were involved.

According to a Facebook page belonging to Zerian Moore, he graduated from Bremerton High School in 2010 and was originally from Fontana, Calif. Moore liked Mixed-Martial Arts fighting, working on cars and “military stuff.”

Gudmundsen said the last time a swimmer drowned in a South Kitsap lake was in 2008 when a six-year-old boy drowned at Horeshoe Lake. Most recently, SKFR responded to the drowning death of a diver near Blake Island in May.

 

 

Contact Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer Brett Cihon at bcihon@portorchardindependent.com or 360-876-4414.

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