7-year-old boy drowns off St. Pete Beach

ST. PETE BEACH — Police identified the 7-year-old boy who drowned Sunday afternoon on St. Pete Beach.

Ricardo Galloway Jr.'s name was originally withheld until authorities could contact the boy's father, said St. Pete Beach Police Chief David Romine.

The boy's mother, Tranese Brookins, 29, was at the beach with family members at the time, Romine said, and she was periodically checking on a group of children. At one point, she looked up and didn't see her son, he said. Then she noticed something floating in a tidal pool near the water line.

When her boyfriend went to check, he found her son floating in the water.

Police got a call at 6:14 p.m., Romine said, and a bystander performed CPR until paramedics arrived. They transported the boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Romine said the tidal pool was deep and the water would have been over the boy's head. Police are considering the boy's death an accident, he said.

Sunday's drowning came four days after a 41-year-old Alabama woman drowned off St. Pete Beach. Six other people were rescued Wednesday off St. Pete Beach in the wake of Tropical Storm Debby.