Unfortunately, a terrible tragedy occurred at a Killeen hotel Wednesday night.

The Killeen police are reporting a drowning death at the Travelodge hotel located at 810 E. Central Texas Expressway.

Bell County Justice of the Peace Gregory Johnson pronounced a male victim dead just before 8 PM Wednesday night.

According to the Killeen police department's Facebook page, someone was performing CPR on the victim when police arrived. Officers took over the life-saving measures first, then arriving paramedics. Sadly, the victim died at the scene.

According to the World Health Organization, Drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, there are an estimated 236,000 annual drowning deaths every year. Children and males with increased access to water are most at risk of drowning. 

The Global Rescue organization reports that kids ages 1-4 are the highest drowning risk. In fact, drowning is the most common cause of death for children in that age range.

However, drowning can happen to anyone. We see it happen far too often out at our local lakes (where you should always wear a life vest, by the way). Global Rescue has a detailed page on signs to help you spot someone who may be drowning and potentially save their life. They recommend not swimming out to a drowning person unless you're trained or you've exhausted every other method, because a drowning person could pull another person down with them in a panic.

With the summer heat still blazing, plenty of people will continue jumping into the pool or local waterways to cool off. Just be safe out there, and watch out for each other.

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