Days after a 23-year-old drowned in the Miami River, his friends are still trying to understand the tragedy.
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, it was around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when Trevonte Johnson, or Vonn, as his friends called him, fell into the water near the mouth of the Miami River from a chartered boat.
Several people tried to rescue him but couldn’t.
Vonn was unresponsive when divers found him at the bottom of the river on Monday.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
One of the victim’s friends told NBC6 he was hesitant to take the trip to Miami and now they’re wishing he never did.
“I'm in disbelief. I want it to be like a prank. I wanted this to be a prank, like it’s unbelievable that you can be here one day and gone the next,” said Vonn's friend. “That's my best friend, like it's hard to take that in... like somebody you planned your whole life with somebody you know since you were little. Somebody you talk to every day.”
China McPherson, another of Vonn's close friends, also told NBC6 she had spoken to Vonn moments before he fell into the water.
“(When) I had just FaceTimed him prior to the accident, he was just having fun, you know? He was on FaceTime and I told him 'when you get off the boat to just call me when you get done.' And I never got that call back,” McPherson said.
Vonn was a trucker on vacation from Mississippi. Sadly, he would never make it back home, where his friends say he wanted to join the police academy.
“I really couldn’t believe it. I really wish that somebody could have saved him. If I were there, I would have put on a life jacket, and I would have jumped in because I just hate that he had to go that way,” said a friend.
Miami River drowning
Vonn’s loved ones say he liked fashion and dressing up, which may be why police identified Vonn as a woman at first.
“I'm gonna miss everything. Oh my God, I'm going to miss everything about him, everything. His smile.. the light of the room. Always there for you... would give you the shirt off his back,” said one of Vonn's friends.
“I love him and I miss him, he was a really good person," told NBC6 another of his friends.
Visitation and funeral services are next week in Mississippi.
