Girlfriend of drowning victim describes his last moments at Panama City Beach

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — Loved ones are grieving after a vacation in Panama City Beach ended in tragedy for a group of six from central Alabama on Friday.

The group was celebrating a friend’s birthday on the beach when the three men got caught in a rip current on the shoreline. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office said they were all pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The victims were later identified as 25-year-old Harold Denzel Hunter and 24-year-olds Jemonda Ray and Marius Richardson. CBS 42 has learned that all three men were fathers.

“We really just wanted to go to the beach and enjoy ourselves,” Daejah Merchant said. “We never even expected that six of us would go in and only three would come out.”

Ray’s mother Iris Richardson is thankful the three men were recovered due to the efforts of rescue swimmers on the scene.

“I’m able to bring him home,” Richardson said. “Not like I wanted him to come home, but he’s home.”

Richardson also says her son and his cousin Marius were inseparable since birth.

“I’m glad both of them came home,” she said. “and we’re doing their funeral together.”

“It’s hard, it’s hard,” Jemonda’s older sister Jayla Ray added solemnly. “I wake up thinking about him. I wake up crying, looking at his picture.”

Merchant was one of three women who was also with the group. She said they entered the water at dusk. When the sun was starting to set, they began making their way back towards the shore.

“Then in literally three seconds, looked back again, they were underwater,” Merchant said. “A current had come and swept them under.”

Her boyfriend Jemonda leaves behind the couple’s one-year-old son and three siblings. The graduate of Birmingham’s Jackson Olin High School loved playing football and being a dad.

“I’m just thankful that all six of us didn’t go and leave these children here with nobody,” Merchant said.

Merchant wishes that the group had researched the beach’s flag system before their trip, stating the red flags were not easy to spot. Ray’s father also says there should be a visible warning for beachgoers to let them know when it’s not safe to enter the water.

GoFundMe’s have been started to benefit the men’s families during this time. Click here for Hunter’s, Ray’s and Richardson’s.

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