Mallard Creek Graduate Drowns

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TUCKERTOWN LAKE, N.C. — A community pauses to honor a life of a recent Mallard Creek graduate.

Eighteen-year-old, Richard Maxwell III, drowned while swimming with friends at Tuckertown Lake in Montgomery County on Saturday.

Investigators say he panicked when he saw a snake on a log. His friends and former classamtes decided to meet to honor him and donate money to help his mother with funeral expenses.

“No mother should have to bury her 18-year-old son and with so much going on her heart is really heavy, ” family friend, Ronald Stodghill says.

Swimmers are warned to steer clear from the area where Maxwell drowned. It’s reserved for hunting and fishing.