GRAND ISLE, La. — The 13-year-old boy who drowned in Grand Isle on Saturday was identified as Mario Oveido Jr. on Tuesday, according to the Grand Isle Police Department.
Police and the Coast Guard searched and recovered Oveido's body over the weekend.
Our partners at Nola.com say Oveido's family went to the beach to celebrate his eighth-grade graduation from Harriet Tubman Charter School.
Mario's father, Oviedo Sr., said their son was with his mother and two younger siblings in "waist-deep water," and when she called for Mario back to the shore, she didn't see him.
"It's a dangerous place," Mario Oviedo Sr. told our partners. "I don't want another father to lose his kid at the beach where we lost my boy."
The Oviedos said they didn't see any posted warning signs at the beach. They hope officials clarify the dangers of that section on the beach.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. behind Bridge Side Marina.
An autopsy confirmed the teen's cause of death was a drowning.
A GoFundMe was created to help pay for the teen's funeral.
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