Boy drowns at Smith Mountain Lake

Updated 1:42 p.m.

At a news conference this afternoon, Smith Mountain Lake state park police confirmed that 12-year-old Marvin Strickland Jr. drowned at the park’s beach on Thursday afternoon.

Police said Marvin was at SML state park beach with a Sycamore Baptist Church Youth Group from Gretna.  They were spending a day at the lake.

Park police believe Marvin went out to retrieve a float for a younger child.  No one saw Marvin go under.  Marvin was reported missing around 2:30 p.m., and not found until 3:15 p.m. on Thursday.

EMS crews took Marvin to Bedford Memorial Hospital.

Police believe three or four lifeguards were on duty at the time of the dorwning.  Police also estimate there were 80 people on the beach at that time.

Park police say this is the first ever drowning at the park’s beach.

Police say Marvin’s parents were not with the youth group, but other family members were.

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Original story 11:03 a.m.

Smith Mountain Lake State Park police confirm a 12-year-old boy died while swimming Thursday.

The drowning happened around 3:00 p.m., when police received a call about a missing child at the park’s beach.

According to our Lynchburg newsroom, the News & Advance, the child’s name is Marvin Strickland.  He was in the shallow roped off area of the public swim beach with a church youth group around 2:30 p.m., said Warren Wahl, assistant state park director.

He went past the rope into the deeper area, likely to retrieve a float for a smaller child. Strickland could not swim. An adult with the youth group notified a lifeguard about two minutes after Strickland was last seen, Wahl said.

The lifeguards cleared the beach and began searching for the boy. He was found about 30 minutes later and transported to Bedford Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.