'He Was Having a Nice Time,’ Says Mom: Veteran, 30, Drowned While Enjoying Day at N.Y.C Beach

A 30-year-old Army veteran is dead after he drowned off New York’s Rockaway Beach earlier this week. 

Authorities said they received an emergency call for help at Rockaway Beach around 12:30 a.m. local time on Monday, July 22. 

The victim was identified as Moises Rodriguez, the New York City Police Department told PEOPLE in a statement on Thursday, July 25. 

“Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious and unresponsive male in his 30's floating in the water,” the NYPD said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. The man, identified as Moises Rodriguez, was transported to St. John's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The NYPD said the medical examiner will determine the cause of Rodriguez’s death, noting that the investigation remains ongoing.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Mildred Rodriguez, the victim’s mother, said that she was on the phone with her son just hours before his death.

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“I’m really, really in shock,” Mildred told the paper. “I just saw a picture of him on Sunday. He was having a nice time on the beach!” 

Prior to the incident, Moises Rodriguez was taking TikToks at the beach, which showed him enjoying his time in the sand and water, per the Daily News. F -

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rom the footage, according to the newspaper, he could be seen and heard wiggling his toes while on the sand and admiring a sky full of clouds.

Catherine Nunez, who was identified as Moises’ cousin, told the New York Post that Moises went off to a rocky area. There, a wave “came and pushed him off.”

The incident, according to the victim’s family, occurred during off-hours at the beach. 

“We feel like if it was closed off and people couldn’t get to it, it could have helped him or anyone else that might happen to because it’s something people can access directly from the beach and it’s dangerous,” Nunez said.

She also added that additional people on that part of the beach might’ve made a difference, saying “the incident could have been prevented.”

But Nunzez acknowledged to the Post that “at the end of the day, we understand if people break the rules, they choose to break the rules.”

Moises reportedly left behind a 4-year-old daughter who lives with her mom in Alabama. 

A GoFundMe campaign was created to pay for Moises’ funeral expenses. The fundraiser's description described the victim as a “devoted father and cherished member of our community.”

Rodriguez’s death marks the fifth drowning-related fatality at a New York City beach so far this summer, local outlet QNS reported.

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