6-Year-Old Drowns in Pool on First Day of Summer Camp

A 6-year-old boy in New Jersey died after drowning in a pool on his first day of summer camp on Monday, June 24.

Enjoli Stewart told CBS News that her son Michael Stewart was very "eager" to attend Liberty Lakes Day Camp.

"Someone asked me how my day was going and I told them about Michael and how Michael fell asleep the night before with his goggles on," she recalled telling a co-worker Monday afternoon.

Shortly after, she received a call telling her that she "needed to rush to Mount Holly-Virtua."

According to a press release from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, Michael was found unresponsive in a swimming pool shortly before 2 p.m. He was pulled out of the water by a lifeguard.

"Life-saving measures were attempted by camp staff members. He was transported by ambulance to Virtua Hospital in Mount Holly, where he was pronounced dead," the press release adds.

According to NBC Philadelphia, Andy Pritikin, the camp's director and owner, shared news of Michael's death via an email to families on Monday and had a Zoom discussion with them on Tuesday, June 25.

During the meeting, Pritikin told families that the 6-year-old was found in the smaller of the camp's two pools. The depth ranges from one and a half feet to four feet, said Pritikin in the meeting, per the news station.

"Michael was in a first grade boy's group with an adult female leader. Sixteen to 17-year-old counselors and three adult advocates for kids with special needs, which was assigned to Michael. It's a lot of supervision," said Pritikin, per NBC Philadelphia. "The normal breakdowns in the afternoon during free swim are that there's three lifeguards in chairs at the little pool, with a fourth roving lifeguard, which far exceeds the ratios."

PEOPLE has reached out to Liberty Lakes Day Camp for comment. While the incident remains under investigation by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office and Mansfield Township Police, Enjoli told CBS News that she's going to make sure to do "right by my son."

"We're going to make sure he has the fair arrangements. I think I'm going to take some time to process and heal. Michael taught me how to fight and he taught me to fight without using my hands," she said. "He taught me how to fight in a different manner."

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up by the Lumberton Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 201 to raise funds for Enjoli and her family. As of this writing, the campaign has nearly $9,000 with over 200 donations.

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The Lumberton Township School District also released a statement, remembering Michael as a "rising first grader" and extending their "deepest condolences to the family as well as our education professionals" who knew him.