Roberts

A Morrow County teenager drowned Friday in the Columbia River, the second drowning death this summer in the same stretch of water.

At 3:53 a.m., the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call reporting Gavin Ryce Roberts, 18, of Boardman, had drowned near the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge in the McCormick Slough, according to a press release.

Roberts was a 2015 graduate of Riverside High School in Boardman.

Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the sheriff’s office, Irrigon Fire Department and EMS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Umatilla Fire Department and Washington-based Skamania County Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue Team. The agencies launched boats and the dive rescue team recovered the body at about 11:13 a.m.

The incident is still under investigation.