JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The grandmother of a 6-year-old boy who drowned Sunday night in a Westside retention pond vividly remembers his last words to her.
“Happy Mother's Day, Mema. I love you.”
The family of Jamarion Lee continues to mourn the little boy, who was playing with his 8-year-old brother just before 6 p.m. Sunday when he slipped into a retention pond off Nolan Street.
His brother ran for help, but by the time rescuers got to him, it was too late.
“I was hoping when they pulled him out that he would breathe. No response,” said Marjorie Lee, Jamarion's grandmother.
She said her mind keeps circling back to the good times.
"My grandbaby was a good kid, and we love him. We are really going to miss him. I miss him already,” Lee said. “I know he's in a better place. God don't make no mistakes."
She said moving on from his death will be difficult, but she holds on to their last moments together.
"He said, 'Happy Mother's Day, Mema,' That was… Those were his last words to me. 'Happy Mother's Day, Mema, I love you.' I turned over and said, 'Thank you, baby. I love you, too.' He turned around and walked out of the room,” she said. “I got ready for church, and he wanted to go, but I said, 'No, stay home with mommy for Mother's Day. Chill with her.' If I had known, I would have taken him.”
Good Samaritan tried to save boy
Jamarion was under water for about 6-8 minutes before fire rescue workers pulled him out.
A neighbor who jumped in after the boy said he had a hard time swimming because of the conditions in the pond and that he can only imagine how bad it was for Jamarion, who weighed less than 100 pounds.
"I was walking my daughter down the road, and I saw him. He was coming. He said he was going to fish, and I was messing with him and told him he wasn't going to catch any fish,” neighbor Rick Powell said. “He started laughing, and that was the last I saw him."
Powell said about 15 minutes later he heard screams.
"I came over here and hopped in, and he was already under,” Powell said.
Powell said he and another neighbor frantically searched for Jamarion said, but the water was murky and the current from drainage pipes was pulling at them.
"The tunnels, they're like really bad,” Powell said. “They start sucking you in as you fall in."
He said by the time a rescue crew arrived, it was too late.
Vigil held at pond
Family, friends and neighbors brought candles and flowers to a vigil held for Jamarion Monday night at the same pond where he died.
Neighbor Shaterra Jones said she'll miss seeing Jamarion riding up and down the street on his scooter.
"He was just a little boy. He was only 6 years old and I used to come outside and see him on his little scooter," Jones said. "I know they're (his family) is going to miss him."
Another neighbor Kieva Ashley told News4Jax that the community has stuck together during the time of pain and suffering.
"It had a big impact. A lot of people are grieving. I can't imagine the grief that the mother is feeling right now," Ashley said. "At the end of the day, we know that God did prevail and we know he's in a better place that we've all got to get to."
Neighbors want pond fenced for safety
Investigators said the water there is about waist deep and the bottom is extremely muddy.
"If they're anywhere near here they should be able to swim. They shouldn't be over here unattended, but they all do it,” Powell said of children in the neighborhood. “They all come over here and fish in this pond."
There are five ponds within a four-block radius in the area, and neighbors said they want them fenced for safety reasons.
Ashley, who attended the vigil for Jamarion, said she will be petitioning for a fence around the pond.
"This is a community. This is a neighborhood. This isn’t outside of just your local street corner. This is a neighborhood and I’m sure when they were building this retention pond, that they saw that this was a neighborhood with a lot of children around the block," Ashley said.
The city said there are certain design guidelines it must follow for pond fencing, and the pond where Jamarion drowned meets design specifications that do not require a fence.
"The pond where the tragedy occurred over the weekend was built according to the design specifications and criterion that do not require fencing,” the city said in a statement. “Our Public Works staff has advised that they strongly adhere to guidelines and assess conditions to minimize such risks and threats to public safety. They will conduct a review and examination of the design to reconfirm the slopes."
City officials explained that a fence would be required if the slope around the pond was greater than 1 foot for every 4 feet of distance.
Powell said he hopes parents in the neighborhood will keep their children away from the pond after the drowning.