Man Won't Be Charged After Fatally Shooting Drowning Jet Skier He Had Tried to Save, Police Say

A good Samaritan who wound up fatally shooting a man he tried to save from drowning in a South Carolina lake will not face criminal charges in the bizarre case, authorities said. 

The unidentified man who fatally shot 29-year-old Nathan Drew Morgan acted in self-defense, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office told WBTW News. 

The incident occurred on Lake Keowee around 2 p.m. March 15. 

A man and a woman on a pontoon boat saw a man and a woman, who had been on a jet ski, in distress in the water. Neither one was wearing a life jacket, deputies told WBTW.

The good Samaritan and his wife drove their pontoon over to assist the man and woman out of the water and onto the pontoon boat, according to the sheriff’s office. 

However, during the rescue, the man became agitated and began assaulting the couple on the pontoon boat, according to WBTW News.

According to authorities, the woman who had been on the jet ski with Morgan and was also rescued, pushed Morgan back into the water.

The couple then pulled Morgan out of the water a second time, authorities reported. 

Deputies said the man on the pontoon shot the man after the second encounter because he feared for his and his wife’s lives, the news outlet reported. 

The coroner’s office said Morgan, who was from Wahalla, was shot in the chest on the pontoon boat, WSPA News reported. 

A nearby resident told the news outlet that the incident was “surprising,” and “definitely unexpected.”

“Certainly, have never seen anything like that or heard anything that like that,” he said.

Everyone involved in the incident cooperated with the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

Drew was a member of Flat Shoals Baptist Church, enjoyed being on the water, fishing, sitting around a campfire, and playing basketball, his obituary said. In addition to his father, Drew is survived by a son.

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