FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are investigating after a body was found floating in a lake on the Dillard High School campus in Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale Police and Fire Rescue crews responded to the school, near Northwest 11th Street and 27th Avenue, just before 7:45 a.m., Tuesday.
Police said a school bus driver spotted a body in the lake on the northwest corner of the campus near the football field.
Detectives later determined the victim was an adult male.
7News cameras captured two divers pulling the body out of the water in a yellow bag.
It remains unclear how long the man was in the lake or how he got onto the school’s property, officials said.
“When investigators walked the lake this morning, all of the gates that do open, they were all secured,” said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Tracy Figone.
Broward County Public Schools officials said the high school was placed under a code yellow, but none of the students were in any danger.
“They told us to sit quietly and don’t let nobody out,” one student said.
“That’s kinda confusing,” a second student said. “I was kinda confused like, ‘Why are we under code yellow when it’s the first day back to school since winter break?'”
“I thought it couldn’t be true,” a third student said. “It was just so surprising to me that a body was on our campus.”
Parents said they were worried after hearing there was a body at the school, but felt more at ease knowing it wasn’t a child in the lake.
“It’s not a child. It’s an adult male, so I’m more relieved now,” said parent Genesie Homes. “I have a nephew and my son attends school out here, and I just dropped them off this morning, and anything could have happened.”
However, others, like Rosa Smith, are wondering whether the man could be their loved one.
“My nephew — he’s not missing. He just goes and stays … and comes back, so I just wanted to come over here,” Smith said. “Maybe if I could see, that I could be able to tell, but in my heart, I feel like it’s not him anyway.”
The man’s identity is not yet known.
Investigators are working to find out how the man died, how long his body has been at the campus and how he entered a secure school campus during the holiday break.
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