Teen Rescued from Amesbury, MA Lake Dies

The teen pulled out of Amesbury's Lake Gardner on Sunday by first responders has died, according to city spokeswoman Caitlin Thayer.

After the 16-year-old boy, who was not identified by police, was brought to shore around 4:15 p.m. rescue workers could not get a pulse, according to Thayer. Paramedics continued working on the minor after he was taken to Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport where a pulse was established.

The teen was taken to a Boston hospital via medical helicopter for further treatment but died just after midnight early Monday, Thayer said.

Thayer said the teen was not a Massachusetts resident and was visiting his uncle in Lynn, Massachusetts. She credited the work of Amesbury Police officer Ronald Guilmette along with firefighters Justin Petrillo, Sean Kane and TJ Poussard for their efforts to get the boy of the water.

Facebook user Princessa Diaz was at Lake Gardner on Sunday and told Seacoast Current that Guilmette immediately went to work to find the teen.

"He didn't think about anything. He took his shoes and everything off and jumped in. He didn't stopped looking till he found him," Diaz said. He was there with a group that appeared to be family.

"To the firefighter that I watched not give up and continue to dive in pull this child out of the water. Thank you. YOU are the true hero," Helen Nadeau wrote on the Amesbury police Facebook page.

"I was there with my 3 children and we saw the whole thing Thank you to the APD, AFD, and the EMT’s for all the wonderful work you did today," Heather M. Perkins wrote.

"I want to thank our police and fire departments for everything they did to try and save the boy. This is not the outcome we wanted, but they deserve a lot of credit for going above and beyond in the call of duty," Amesbury mayor Kassandra Gove said. "Officer Ronnie Guilmette put his own life in danger to search for the boy and didn't think twice about it. Thank you to both teams for your efforts."

The city will honor the officers and firefighters for their efforts at a future date.

Gove said it was Lake Gardner's first water rescue in decades although officers are trained for them.

Lifeguards are not on duty at the city owned beach and have not been since 2019, according to Thayer, when not all shifts were covered.

"It’s been getting harder and harder to hire lifeguards, you see that throughout the region and the state," Recreation Director Kathy Crowley said. "We even offered to pay for half of their lifeguard certification and still couldn’t find enough people."

Thayer said the park is closed until Friday as city leadership evaluates the beach area to ensure that they're doing everything they can to keep people safe.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ