Gabriel Lucas Gardner

Gabriel Lucas Gardner died helping to save Kinzlee R. Gardner from drowning, Post Falls, Idaho, June 26, 2020. Kinzlee, 21 months old, was in a kayak with her mother at an inlet along the Spokane River when an undertow sucked the kayak beneath the surface. Kinzlee, wearing a life jacket, and her mother, an experienced swimmer, were briefly submerged. Kinzlee’s father, Gardner, 35, concrete laborer, had been taking cellphone pictures of them from a rocky riverbank about 10 feet away. He dropped his phone and jumped into the water, as did a friend. Kinzlee’s mother was able to push Kinzlee to the surface before the undertow and current carried her mother away from the inlet toward the middle of the river. Gardner reached Kinzlee and grasped her life jacket, then tried to pass her to his friend, who, instead struggled to stay afloat in the undertow and currents and eventually exited the water. Gardner swam about 70 feet toward a kayak piloted by Kinzlee’s 12-year-old brother. The boy was able to take Kinzlee from Gardner and into his kayak , which drifted downriver and eventually to shore. Kinzlee and the brother were unharmed. Gardner submerged. Meanwhile, Kinzlee’s mother struggled to swim back to the rocky inlet bank. She was nearly exhausted, but recovered. Gardner’s body was found about 900 feet downriver in about 15 feet of water slightly more than an hour later. He had drowned.