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Police identify lifeguard who drowned at Lincolnton YMCA

By Ken Lemon, wsoctv.com
By Ken Lemon, wsoctv.com

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — Police in Lincoln County are investigating after a lifeguard drowned in the swimming pool of a YMCA early Thursday morning.

Officers said 21-year-old Yesenia Jimenez Linares was found unconscious around 6:30 a.m. in the pool at the Lincoln County Family YMCA on East Gaston Street.

Her co-workers couldn't find her and called 911 to report that she was missing. Nine minutes later, they called back to say they had found her in the pool.

“Do you know what happened?” the dispatcher asked the caller.

"I have no idea,” the caller said. “We just found her in the pool. She is a lifeguard."

Her co-workers performed CPR. There were lifesaving devices at the YMCA, but employees struggled getting to them.

"Do you have a defibrillator and AED (automated external defibrillator)?" the dispatcher asked.

"We have them, but they can't open the door," the caller said.

Once they were able to get the devices, they learned they couldn't use them on her wet body. Paramedics took Linares to the hospital, where she died.

"I never would have thought," YMCA member Shane Hulett said.

Hulett is one of the members who came to the YMCA on Thursday, only to learn it was closed.

"For something to happen like that -- it's a tragedy," Hulett said.

Many of the YMCA’s employees spent the morning at the hospital with Linares's family.

"Our members, our staff, our volunteers are all very close," Mary Thompson, with the YMCA, said.

Officers told Channel 9 they are treating the death as a drowning and that no foul play is suspected.

The YMCA was closed for the remainder of Thursday.

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