Donations sought for drowned Waukegan boy's funeral
Family and friends of the 14-year-old Waukegan boy who drowned Friday at Waukegan Municipal Beach have raised more than $1,000 toward the cost of his funeral since Saturday.
Gabriel Boose was swimming with relatives across the channel south of the beach Friday afternoon when he drowned.
Loreal Serrano said she feels more could have been done to save her son, who began losing his battle with the current before he reached the other side of the channel.
"A boat came right in front of him and he was able to tap on the boat and call for help," Serrano said Wednesday night. "The people thought he was playing and started laughing at him and drove off. ... Whoever that person was, they know that they could have helped."
Gabriel's body was recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard around 8:45 p.m. Friday, around five hours after he went missing below the water.
The online fundraising drive - hosted at gofundme.com - was started by family friend Anna Boettjer, who said Gabriel was athletic and loved dogs. Boettjer said she met Gabriel and his mother four years ago when Boettjer was a property manager at a public storage company, when they were moving to Mount Prospect.
"It came up in the conversation that they had some puppies for sale," Boettjer said. "Gabe had a dog Roxy, a half pit bull, half husky, and we bought Roxy's sister Luka. It was our first dog."
Serrano said her son had a smile that lit up the room and he always had her back, which she said was especially important because she is a single mother of six kids.
"I really don't know what this family is going to to do without him," Serrano said. "He was a boon to this family."
Boettjer said soon Gabriel and her son, Samuel Cancel, were good friends even though Samuel was four years older. The two boys attended Timber Ridge School, an alternate elementary school in Arlington Heights. Boettjer said it was Samuel who called her in tears Saturday to tell her that he saw on Facebook that his friend had drowned.
Waukegan police Cmdr. Joe Florip said investigators determined Gabriel had been swimming in the channel, an area where the water is very deep for Great Lakes freighter ships.
"It looks really calm on the surface because it is inside the break walls, but underneath there is a lot of action," Florip said. "It has Lake Michigan water pressure under the surface."
Florip said swimming in the channel is forbidden and there are "no swimming" signs posted.
Serrano said that in the time since Gabriel's death security devices that could have deterred him from swimming have been installed, including a fence.
By Wednesday night, $1,045 had been raised on the gofundme.com page by 22 people.
"I'm very appreciative to the people who gave donations," Serrano said. "If it would have been up to me I don't know how I would have been able to afford Gabriel's funeral."
Serrano said she has also been helped by the Bradley Funeral Home in North Chicago, which is arranging a private ceremony for the family.