One person is dead and four others injured due to an electrocution incident in a fountain at a Jupiter, Florida, shopping center.

Nate Davenport, 45, a Jupiter native and father of four, was electrocuted as he attempted to pull two of his children and a friend’s child out of the fountain.

Paramedics took the children to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. An additional adult received treatment at Jupiter Medical Center. The victims have since been released from the hospital.

The incident occurred on October 22 at Harbourside Place, a premier downtown destination for waterfront dining, shopping, and entertainment. After a day of boating, Davenport tied up at Harbourside, accompanied by three of his children, his friend Seth Kozak, and Kozak’s child.

Multiple witnesses provided details about the events, which was included in a police report released October 31.

Davenport and Kozak were sitting at the outside bar area of The Jupiter Grill, in view of the fountain, when the incident began. Their waitress, 38-year-old Thotyelwa Mhlakaza- Faust, went to check on the men

Habourside Place splash pad in Jupiter Park, Florida, is a popular hang out for local families . The fountain in the top box and behind the splash pad is where Nate Davenport was electrocuted. Wire image credit WPTV.com. Splash pad image credit Lotsoffunmaps.com.

By Marcelle Dibrell and found them both gone, with their wallets and phones still on the table. Noticing chaos at the fountain, she ran over to help.

Video surveillance of the incident from cameras facing the fountain shows what happened next.

At 3:29 p.m., three children begin playing in the fountain, and less than a minute later, two of the boys appear face down in the water. Davenport jumps in the water and immediately collapses onto his back before he is able to help. Kozak tries to pull Davenport from the water but is also shocked. Kozak then attempts to pull his son from the fountain and is shocked again, this time causing him to fall into the fountain. A child attempts to help Kozak but lurches back, shocked. Kozak is able to pull himself out and grabs his son, who is still face down in the water. He begins chest compressions on the boy.

Mhlakaza-Faust jumps into the fountain to help and is shocked. She is able to get out of the fountain.

Nearby, Jennifer and Robert Fisler said they were enjoying lunch when they heard a child’s piercing scream coming from the amphitheater splashpad area.

“And there were three children, maybe four screaming people trying to get a man, it looked like, out of the fountain. And it looked like he was stuck,” Jennifer said.

“My husband went into the fountain and then got back out because he was getting shocked and then went back in,” she said.

Jennifer raced to the back of the fountain and somehow found the power breaker.

“I got the electric shut down. My husband, with the assistance of the friend and the waitress from Jupiter, got Nate out of the water, and his friend immediately starting performing CPR,” she said.

The entire incident lasted four minutes.

When police arrived moments later, they found Mhlakaza-Faust and Kozak performing CPR. The officers who took over chest compressions noticed that Davenport did not appear to be breathing or have a clear pulse.

Both Mhlakaza-Faust and Davenport were rushed to Jupiter Medical Center.

An hour after Davenport arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced dead. On October 25, the Medical Examiner’s office listed Davenport’s cause of death as an electrocution and the manner as accidental.

The fountain area of Harbourside Place is in the center of a children’s splashpad, where jets of water shoot up from the ground. “No climbing” is printed in capital letters on three sides of the fountain. A detailed list of “Harbourside fountain and splash pad rules” is located to the left of the fountain with “no swimming/climbing/ diving” written at the top. According to the police report, Tranquil Waterscapes has been identified as the company hired by Harbourside Place to maintain the fountain and splashpad and had last been to the location three days prior to the incident. The company told investigators that they brush, net, and treat the water with chemicals, but they do not work on any electrical elements and that it is not part of their duties to inspect electrical components. According to their website, Tranquil Waterscapes Inc. is a water feature firm specializing in design, construction, and maintenance.

Investigators also tracked down the builders of the fountain and splashpad, identified as Van Kirk & Sons Pools & Spas, based in Deerfield Beach. The company built the water feature for Harbourside 10 years ago, but the general manager said they haven’t done any work on the fountain in the past five to seven years because the warranty on the equipment had expired.

In their interviews with the victims, one of the children told police he had noticed broken lights within the fountain before getting shocked.

Meanwhile, according to the report, a woman identified as Dina Fleck had previously reported an electrical problem with the fountain several months before the electrocution incident. On July 10, Fleck and some friends had visited the fountain, and when she put her hand in the water, she experienced “an intense tingling up her whole arm, which she stated lasted a couple of minutes after she removed her hand from the water,” the police report stated.

Several of Fleck’s friends touched the water and were also shocked. Fleck said she felt a stinging sensation in her feet and legs at the splashpad, but it was not as strong as when she put her hand in the fountain water. She also supplied police with a photo of a wire sticking out of the water. She said she had told a Harbourside employee, whom she described as an older man with tan skin and dark hair driving a golf cart, about her experience at the time and found his response “dismissive about the situation.”

Mark McFarland, a forensic electrical engineer with Discovery Engineering, provides consulting on civil and criminal cases nationwide. Asked by a local news channel, McFarland explained what might have caused the electrocution: “A ground fault, where there’s not a proper grounding and the electricity exit can’t find its way to ground, so it ends up either in the fountain or in a spot that people can get hurt,” McFarland said. “With these fountains and outdoor installations around water like swimming pools, there can be a risk of people getting hurt if it’s not installed correctly, installed to code. Sometimes there are modifications that are made, even maintenance, or people may be doing maintenance somewhere and may disturb something or disconnect something. A lot of different problems can happen, and there are codes, rules, that govern how these things are installed and maintained to keep everyone safe.”

Following the police report, Harbourside Place released a statement to the public.

“We at Harbourside Place remain heartbroken over this tragic and unexpected loss of a part of our Harbourside family of consultants. Nate was a friend of Harbourside and was currently working with us on several projects. Our thoughts, prayers, and unwavering support continue to be with his family during this challenging time.”