ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A swift current off Gandy Beach pulled a man away from shore and led to his drowning over the weekend.
Lino Gomez and his wife, 20-year-old Angela Perez, were floating on the water on an inflatable raft after 4 p.m. Saturday just off the beach. As they lounged, the Pinellas County Sheriff Office says the tide pulled them over a deep channel and away from the shoreline.
The 23-year-old Gomez fell into the water as the couple tried to paddle back to the beach. Perez tried to pull him back onboard but she, too, fell in the water.
Perez grabbed onto the float and lost her sight of Gomez, who was being swept out by the current.
A boater found Gomez face-down in the water and brought him back to shore not long thereafter. That's when 37-year-old Melissa Shaffer, called a good Samaritan, started CPR until paramedics arrived.
Despite rescue efforts, Gomez died overnight Sunday at Tampa General Hospital.
Deputies say neither Gomez nor Perez knew how to swim.
An investigation is ongoing.
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