By EARYEL BOWLEG 

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ALTON Marshall, Jr, the 13-year-old boy who drowned in a pool on Monday night, was an avid Junkanoo fan who rushed with the Saxons during the recent Labour Day parade.

His father, Alton Marshall, Sr, 35, said Junkanoo was among the things he and his firstborn bonded over, and the two were preparing to once again participate in independence festivities with the Saxons.

The family also had vacation plans –– and Alton was going to choose their next destination.

Police said that around 8.30pm on Monday, the SC McPherson Junior School student was swimming at a pool in Delaporte Point when he became unresponsive.

His family retrieved him from the water and administered CPR until EMS personnel arrived to give medical assistance that failed to revive him.

“It happened so quick,” Mr Marshall said yesterday. Kendika Campbell-Moss, the Saxons media representative, said the Junkanoo community is in mourning.

“It’s a treasure that has been lost,” she said. “I can’t even explain the mood. When people pass on, it’s one thing, but when you have someone that is as young, as brilliant and as enthusiastic as he was about the craft, as he was about being in the brass, I mean it is heartfelt. Nobody can understand it.”

“That isn’t something that we thought that we would have had to deal with today.”

She said a rush-out is being planned in the boy’s memory.

“We will have a point of recognition for him. He will rush in eternal peace. I’m telling you there will be nothing that would be spared for him.”