GATES COUNTY, N.C. – A 36-year-old Suffolk man drowned in the Chowan River on Sunday afternoon, according to the Gates County Sheriff’s Office.
Gates County Sheriff Ed Webb told NewsChannel 3 that witnesses reported Thomas Wayne Holmes went swimming, went underwater and came back up, then went down again but never reemerged.
Holmes’ friends told officials that he was drinking before he went swimming.
Emergency Medical Services arrived around 1:45 p.m.
Holmes’ body was recovered and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. His body has now been taken to the Medical Examiner’s Officer in Greensville, N.C.
