“Heartbreaking” Death Of High School Senior Weeks Away From Graduation

FRESNO (KMJ) — The death of an 18 year old in the San Joaquin River is prompting an outpouring of grief from all over Fresno.

Neng Thao was named by Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office as the man pulled from the water Saturday afternoon, close to Palm and Nees. It has been confirmed that he was set to graduate from Edison High School on June 5th, and was about to start at U.C. Berkeley.

“We were able to identify a very likely location where it seemed if someone had been dragged under this is where they would have ended up,” explains Fresno Fire Deputy Chief Todd Tuggle.

“That’s where our folks set up, and they started a search of the bottom of the channel. About 22 minutes after making entry, the second diver located the 18 year old male and they were able to drag him out of the water.”

But after taking him back to the ambulance on scene, rescuers made the decision to stop resuscitation.

“The water that’s five or eight or ten feet down, is moving much faster than the water that’s on the surface. So someone who is even a good swimmer is going to have a very difficult time fighting against that current,” adds Tuggle.

According to the GoFundMe page set up by his family (click here), Thao was by the water to celebrate his older brother’s graduation from Fresno State.

We received the sad news last night that Mayor Lee Brand's appointee to the Youth Commission, Neng Thao, drowned in the San Joaquin River yesterday. This picture is from Thursday when he was reappointed. He was an honors student at Edison HS and bound for UC Berkeley. "This is a heartbreaking loss for our entire community, and on behalf of the City of Fresno, I’d like to express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Neng Thao. He was an exceptional young man and a valued leader on the City’s Youth Commission, where he was a Mayoral appointee. Neng made a positive impact on everyone he met and and we are all deeply saddened by the news of this tragic loss.” – Mayor Lee Brand (Neng pictured, 2nd from the right)

A post shared by Fresno California (@cityoffresno) on May 21, 2017 at 12:48pm PDT

The event prompted a response from Fresno Mayor Lee Brand, as the 18 year old had been reappointed to the city’s Youth Commission the previous Thursday.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for our entire community, and on behalf of the City of Fresno I’d like to express our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Neng Thao. He was an exceptional young man and a valued leader.”

In a statement from Fresno Unified School District, officials described him as a “stand out person in an out of the classroom” and revealed that they and the entire Tiger community are now processing this “heartbreaking news.”

Thao’s fellow students at Edison High School set up a memorial for him in the outdoor amphitheatre on campus, playing the piano and writing quotes on the ground in chalk to remember him.

Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired: