A man whose body was recovered from a large lake at SoFi Stadium Wednesday morning had hopped a fence to get onto the property and walked into the water, the mayor of Inglewood said.
Officials received a call just after 6 a.m. from someone who said they saw a person go into the lake but not come out, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Divers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were sent into the water to search for a body, the Special Enforcement Bureau tweeted along with several images during the search.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Mayor James Butts said it is unknown why the 45-year-old man was on the property and why he entered the water.
Surveillance video apparently shows the man entering the property on the Century Boulevard side, hopping a fence and making his way toward the manmade lake, the mayor indicated.
Around 6 a.m. the man was seen entering the water. Security personnel responded once he was already inside and alerted the Inglewood Police Department.
He was last seen heading toward the middle of the lake and with his head above water around 6:15 a.m. The lake is 15 to 20 feet deep in some spots, the mayor said.
The man’s body was recovered about 9:50 a.m.
The man has not been identified and it is unknown exactly how he died.
“This is someone who made a conscious decision to trespass onto the property and get into the lake,” Butts said in response to a question about whether changes to security measures at the stadium property might be needed. “He ended up having some distress or difficulty, so i don’t think that there’s anything that SoFi could have done to prevent this.”
Butts added that his office does not have the video of the man getting onto the property and into the lake, and that he doubted police would release it.
No one else spoke during the short news conference Wednesday afternoon.
