Teen Dies In Apparent Drowning Off Shelter Island: Police

SHELTER ISLAND, NY — An 18-year-old died in an apparent drowning off Shelter Island Saturday, police said.

According to Shelter Island town police, at about 3:09 p.m., officers, along with the Shelter Island Fire Department and Shelter Island Town emergency medical services, responded to the report of a missing swimmer in the waters off Wades Beach.

Timothy Magambo, 18, of Pelham, NY, was visiting Shelter Island with friends — one of whom has family with a residence on the island — and had been part of a group of seven individuals who entered the water for a walkout and swim, police said.

The group had intended to travel across the channel from Wades Beach to Shell Beach, a nearby peninsula directly across the water, police said.

During the swim, the teen became separated from the group that was continuing toward Shell Beach when he turned back alone to return to Wades Beach, police said.

When the group was unable to locate him, he was subsequently reported missing, police said.

Shortly after calling for help, members of the group, as well as a bystander at the beach, located him floating face-down, several hundred yards south of the point where he was last observed wading back to shore, police said.

They were able to bring the teen back to the beach, where lifesaving measures were immediately initiated by police, fire, and EMS personnel, police said.

He was transported to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital and later transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital’s main facility, police said.

Despite extensive rescue and medical efforts, he later succumbed to injuries consistent with drowning, police said.

The Shelter Island Police Department, in conjunction with the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office, is conducting a full investigation into the incident, police said.

The cause and manner of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office and at this time, the incident is believed to be accidental in nature, and no criminality is suspected, police said.

The case status remains active, pending final results and determinations of the Medical Examiner’s Office, police said.