Updated Saturday, Sept. 6 – 1 pm
An inexperienced swimmer, who went in the ocean at 3:30 a.m., was swept under by relatively-mild waves today and drowned.
Family members at the beach identified the victim as Marlon Fajardo, 21, according to TV reporters at the beach.
Friends told the Los Angeles Times that Fajardo was a weak swimmer.
“It’s not a happy ending, but at least it’s still good to know they found him,” Farjardo’s grandmother, Louise Bernadez told The Times. “I believe that he was gone. How long can you survive? Just a sharp minute.”
Lifeguards were not sure why the man and two of his friends were in the water, under a full moon, when he went missing.
“We usually we don’t recommend swimming in the dark,” Lifeguard Capt. Christine Linkletter said at a midmorning news conference. The beach was not getting large waves today, as that strand is protected by the Palos Verdes Peninsula from hurricane swells arriving from the southeast.
Off the Knob Hills lifeguard station in southern Redondo Beach today, crews on three boats and a dive team searched in water 5-to-15 deep water, just outside the surfline.
The man’s family stood on the beach, comforted by a firefighter.
The swimmer was reported missing at 3:45 a.m., said a Redondo Beach police sergeant. Fajardo’s body was recovered before 11 a.m.
