2-year-old drowns in pond inside the Hampton Lake community

A 2-year-old boy from California drowned on Sunday morning at a pond within Bluffton’s Hampton Lake community.

Christopher Miles Hamilton drowned around 8:30 a.m. in a pond off of Blue Trail Court, according to a Bluffton Police Department report and Deputy Coroner David Ott of the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.

An officer was dispatched after a report of a missing person when a grandparent called 911 to say the child had been missing for approximately 10 minutes and might be out walking a dog.

As officers were responding to the scene, dispatchers let them know that the child had been found in the pond and that those on the scene were performing CPR.

Several officers continued CPR when they arrived. The Bluffton Fire District and EMS also responded and continued CPR until the the child was transported to Coastal Carolina Hospital and pronounced dead.

Joy Nelson, spokesperson for the police department, said on Wednesday that the case has been closed and has been ruled an accidental drowning.

A GoFundMe page has been created for the child’s family.

“We lost our beloved baby boy on July 9th,” the page says. “He was ripped from our lives way before his time, and our sorrow and grief is endless.”

The page says the child, who was known by his middle name, drowned at a lake while vacationing at his “mom-mom’s” home with his big sister and mother. The coroner’s office said he was from Ukiah, Calif.

The page had raised $10,190 of its $12,000 goal by Wednesday afternoon to assist with funeral expenses.

According to the child’s obituary, a funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Sauls Funeral Home in Bluffton. The GoFundMe page said that the child’s maternal grandfather also was buried in the area last year.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 12:08 PM with the headline "2-year-old drowns in pond inside the Hampton Lake community."