WMAQ-TV
Kennedy High School, Chicago

Special-needs student drowns in pool at Chicago high school

Jan. 26, 2017
14-year-old boy had been diagnosed with autism.

A 14-year-old special-needs student has drowned in a swimming pool at a high school in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that crews responding to Kennedy High School on the city's Southwest Side found Rosario Gomez in the pool area. Gomez had been in the pool, but was pulled from the water before firefighters arrived.

He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy found that Gomez drowned and his death was ruled an accident, according to the medical examiner’s office.

According to a GoFundMe account set up to help the boy's family with funeral expenses, he had been diagnosed with autism.

“The Chicago Public Schools family mourns the tragic loss of one of our students earlier today,” a school district spokesman says. “Our condolences go out to the student’s family, and our thoughts are with the entire Kennedy community.”

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