Local News
Authorities identified the 17-year-old as Yanick Rodrigues. His family said he was swimming with friends at Shadowbrook Quarries when tragedy struck.
An outing with friends turned deadly when 17-year-old Yanick Rodrigues went swimming in the Shadowbrook Quarries in Milford, authorities and family said.
The Worcester County District Attorney’s Office identified the teen on Monday, after family shared the teen’s experience in an online obituary.
Rodrigues left Cape Verde in 2016 and moved to Dorchester. He was currently a senior at Madison Park High School in Roxbury.
“Everyone knew him as the kid who could do it all — a smooth soccer player with a bright smile and a strong drive to build a career as an automotive technician,” the obituary says.
Rodrigues and a group of friends went to Shadowbrook Quarries on Saturday for a swim.
After he entered the water, his friends realized he was in trouble and called for help.
The obituary says that more than 50 emergency personnel came to the quarry, including firefighters, police officers, and specialized dive teams. The crews worked through the evening and into the next morning. Dive teams ultimately located Rodrigues’s body 50 feet below the surface.
The Worcester County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident.
The death comes only a week after Milford police rescued an 18-year-old who had fallen from a ledge onto jagged rocks about 12 feet below at the quarries.
Police officers found the young woman conscious but bleeding from several areas while lying among broken bottles and leaves. The woman was transported to a local hospital for treatement.
“While we’re thankful this incident did not have an even more tragic outcome, it serves as an important reminder that the Quarries are not a safe place for recreation,” Milford Chief of Police Robert Tusino said in a statement, regarding the initial incident. “We continue to strongly discourage anyone from entering the property or swimming in the quarries.”
Tusino added that the steep rock faces, unstable terrain, and limited access for emergency responders create an “extremely dangerous environment where a single misstep can have life-altering consequences.”
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