Update: 5-year-old drowns in Surfside Beach area pond. Coroner names victim
A 5-year-old boy drowned Thursday evening in a pond in the Surfside Beach area.
Phoenix Moore, 5, was pulled from a retention pond near Glenn’s Bay Road and transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center where he died, according to an email from Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard.
He was in town visiting from the Atlanta area, Willard said.
Horry County Fire Rescue was dispatched to a development in the 200 block of Presidential Drive at 7:26 p.m. for a report of a person going into a nearby pond, according to a Facebook post.
Dive and drone teams were used to locate the young boy.
Horry County Police were dispatched to the area for a report of a possible drowning of a 4-year-old boy, a police report said.
It appears that an Amber Alert was sent out Thursday evening regarding a missing young boy in the same area of the pond. The alert indicated that Moore was autistic.
Horry County Police is investigating.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 7:21 AM.
