PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — About 2.5 hours after emergency crews rescued two adults from a disabled boat, one of the people who was saved drowned.
Pinellas County deputies were first dispatched at 2:17 p.m. Friday to Lake Seminole where a boat was taking on water. Seminole Fire Rescue saved the two people aboard. Firefighters brought a 37-year-old to shore, along with 39-year-old Shawn Thomas.
The Tampa Bay Times identified Thomas as a pastor at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in St. Pete.
At 5:42 p.m., first responders were dispatched again to Lake Seminole. They learned that after Thomas was rescued alive, he had called a 74-year-old friend to help him recover the boat that was still in the water. During this process, investigators say the boat capsized, and Thomas drowned.
His body was found at 9:47 p.m.
Authorities say he was not wearing a life vest.
Tributes to Thomas poured in on social media. Activist and former St. Pete City Council candidate Lewis Stephens Jr. said Thomas was the reason he became a youth pastor.
"You always told me to be faithful in all you do," Stephens wrote on Facebook. "If I would have knew Tuesday was the last time we was going to talk I would have came to hug you and tell you I love you bro."
Albert Moses III, senior pastor at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Texas, took to social media to pay tribute to Thomas.
"From 2018 to 2021 this man of God left an indelible imprint on my life and ministry," Moses recalled on Facebook. "I will never forget the conversations, the meals, the laughs and the intense journey we were on together to make full proof of the work and ministry we were commissioned to do. You were serious about the call to do the work! I will miss you my brother!"
Thomas went to Osceola High School, studied at Tampa Bible College and earned a doctor of ministry degree at United Theological Seminary.