Funeral For Teen Drowning Victim On Thursday

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- Funeral services for the Cass High School athlete who drowned last week in Allatoona Lake will be held on Thursday.

The service for 17-year-old Christian Markell Scrutchins will begin at 11 a.m. Aug. 4 at the old Cass High School gym at 783 Grassdale Road in Cartersville.

Christian's body will lie in state at the gym from 10 a.m. until the funeral hour. The burial will be held following the service at Cassville Cemetery.

The teen went underwater and did not resurface while swimming with friends July 28 at the lake at Red Top Mountain State Park, according to Bartow County and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division officials.

A GoFundMe account has been created to help the family pay for funeral expenses and other necessities.

According to his obituary, Christian was born May 11, 1999, in Cartersville to parents, Rhonda Mitchell and Clinton Scrutchins.

Wednesday would have been the first day of school for Christian, as the teen would have started his junior year in the Bartow County School System. The rising junior played football and ran track for the Cass Colonels.

The obituary notes Christian is survived by his parents; stepfather, Geoffrey Bennett; brothers, DeVante and Chance; sisters, Chandreas, Paris, Taylor, Elyse and Kenyze; grandmothers, Sherry Mitchell and Sharon Scrutchins; grandfather, John Calvin Mitchell; great grandmother, Lucille Hardrick; favorite aunt, Catherine Rogers; favorite cousins, Broderick and Khyri Rogers; special friends, Colby Williams, Skyler Estes, Xzavier Christian and Branden Elrod; and a host of other aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives and friends.

You can express condolences to the family by clicking here.

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Image via GoFundMe