Missing Marina Del Rey Swimmer Believed To Be Ex-WWE Star Shad Gaspard

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The search continued Monday for a 39-year-old man who went missing Sunday afternoon while swimming with his 10-year-old son in Marina del Rey.

The man is believed to be former WWE star Shad Gaspard.

Just before 4 p.m. Sunday, the two were swept away by a rip current while swimming off Venice Beach in the 4200 block of South Ocean Front Walk. They were about 700 feet from shore.

L.A. County Fire Department lifeguards and L.A. Fire Department crews responded and rescued the boy from the surf and was treated at the scene. However, his father remained missing.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department and U.S. Coast Guard spent several hours searching the waters Sunday night using divers and sonar to no avail before being forced to before calling off the search at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

"Every effort will be made to locate this gentleman, he is somebody's family member, and we all have family, so we will not rest until we feel that every effort has been made to locate him," LASD Deputy Trina Schrader told reporters Monday.

This was the first full weekend that L.A. County beaches reopened since being closed back in early April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Weather conditions were also rough and the surf was choppy.

"There are many rescues, people just maybe get pushed out a little further than they're used to," Schrader said.

Authorities have not released the name of the missing swimmer. However, a post to Gaspard's Instagram account by his wife, Siliana Gaspard, identified him as the missing man.

"If you have seen Shad please message me," she wrote. "Please don't flood me asking what happened. We want to know if he's been seen and where."

Gaspard was part of the famous tag team "Cryme Tyme" with fellow wrestler JTG.