The body of a teenage visitor from Louisiana was pulled from the water off a Gulf Shores public beach Tuesday afternoon, two days after he disappeared beneath rough surf while vacationing with family and friends.
Gulf Shores police said a swimmer first spotted something floating in the water around 1:33 p.m. directly in front of East Gulf Place, an area near the Pink Pony Pub on the city’s main public beach. A nearby jet skier confirmed it was a body, and the original swimmer then helped bring it to shore, according to a police spokesman.
The 17-year-old was found only a few blocks east of where he had last been seen entering the water two days earlier. Police had not officially released his identity, but friends and family began identifying him on social media as Chaston Brown, a teenager from Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Tributes and messages remembering him quickly spread across platforms including Twitter in the days following his death.
Caught in Rough Surf
According to police, Brown was vacationing in the Gulf Shores area with friends and family when he got caught in dangerous surf conditions around 4 p.m. that Sunday and went under. Search and recovery efforts launched immediately by Gulf Shores police and other local law enforcement agencies continued through the following two days but did not locate him until the discovery Tuesday afternoon.
Officials later clarified and corrected an earlier account of exactly how the body was found, updating the public record several hours after the initial recovery to make clear it was a beachgoer, rather than a member of law enforcement, who first spotted the body in the surf.
The drowning is a stark reminder of how quickly conditions can turn dangerous along the Gulf Coast, where rip currents and rough surf can develop rapidly, particularly during the peak of summer tourist season when beaches like those in Gulf Shores draw large crowds of visitors from across the region. Local officials routinely urge swimmers to pay close attention to beach flag warnings and to avoid entering the water when conditions are rough, especially in unfamiliar surf.
No further details on funeral or memorial arrangements were available at the time of the recovery. The incident adds to a string of Gulf Coast water-related tragedies that officials say underscore the importance of caution and awareness for both residents and the steady stream of out-of-town visitors who flock to South Alabama’s beaches each summer.