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A 74-year-old Granite Shoals man was pronounced dead after being pulled from Lake LBJ by a kayaker Sunday, Aug. 1.

Burnet County dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call at 8:44 p.m. from Beaver Island in Granite Shoals. The Granite Shoals Police Department and Granite Shoals Fire and Rescue responded in two minutes.

“A person kayaking noticed the victim and was able to grab him and bring him to a dock and alerted others,” said Capt. Chris Decker of the Granite Shoals Police Department. “They began CPR. We were first on the scene followed by Granite Shoals Fire and Rescue.”

Efforts to revive the man were unsuccessful. Burnet County Justice of the Peace Roxanne Nelson ordered an autopsy from the Travis County Medical Examiner, which will take nine to 12 weeks. 

The victim’s family has chosen not to release his name at this time. 

“The next of kin was in Austin on their way back,” Decker said. “We were quickly able to rule out criminal incident. It was either a tragic accident or a critical medical incident. Whatever happened caused the victim to end up in the water close to a dock. There’s no information on when he went into the water.”   

Decker commended the people who helped while first responders were on their way.

“We saw community, we saw amazing things,” he said. “It was traumatic for those people. We want to commend them for doing all the right things. They did all the lifesaving things possible, but he’d been gone too long. That kayaker was at the right place at the right time.” 

jfierro@thepicayune.com