UPDATE: Authorities have clarified Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s daughter was not with him in the water during his tragic death.
“Mr. Warner was playing with his daughter at the seashore at one point,” Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency said in a July 24 statement obtained by People. “He then left her out of the water, and he and a friend of his entered the sea.”
“It was at that moment that they were swept away by the current, and the friend managed to get out,” the statement continued. “However, Mr. Warner was unable to get out and was pulled out by several people on the beach. He received care from Red Cross officials but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
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More information is emerging about Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s tragic death.
Moments before The Cosby Show alum died in an accidental drowning off the coast of Costa Rica July 20, police confirmed to ABC News that he had been swimming with his 8-year-old daughter.
According to authorities, surfers noticed the father-daughter duo struggling and dove into the water to help. And while a surfer used his board to bring the little girl to safety, per ABC News, a volunteer lifeguard pulled Warner to shore, where he was given 45 minutes of CPR.
In addition to Warner and his daughter, a second man received treatment at the scene and was later taken to a local clinic in critical condition.
“The scene was left in the hands of the police authorities for the corresponding procedures,” the Costa Rican Red Cross told NBC News in a July 22 statement, going on to note that “two people were dragged by a water current at the beach” and that both patients were out of the water at the time the paramedics arrived.
Shortly after, Costa Rican National Police confirmed to ABC News that Warner’s official cause of death was asphyxia.
In the days following Warner’s death, friends and former cast members—including Bill Cosby, Tracee Ellis Ross and Raven-Symone—expressed their heartbreak over the tragedy.
“I love you, Malcolm,” Ross wrote in a July 21 Instagram post alongside pictures of the pair. “First I met you as Theo with the rest of the world then you were my first TV husband. My heart is so so sad.”
As for how Warner wanted to be remembered himself? Two months before his death, he shared exactly what he wanted his legacy to be.
“I will be able to leave this earth knowing and people knowing that I was a good person,” Warner said during a May 21 episode of the Hot & Bothered with Melyssa Ford podcast. “[My dad] said to me often, ‘You know people love you, and people [are] always talking about your career and your success and all of that, but what really makes me the most proud is that you are a good person.'”
Along with his iconic role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom, the actor also starred on several major series including Reed Between the Lines and The Resident.
“I remember my mother said to me one time that, ‘Mr. Cosby gave you immortality,’ so I know on one lane there’s legacy there,” he shared. “But then, because I’ve had this full life after that show, there’s another lane of legacy that I get to leave.”
Keep reading to look back at Warner’s life in photos.
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