Missing boy's body found in waters near Ocean City

Police believe a body pulled from the water in Ocean City today is that of a 14-year-old Philadelphia boy who was swept out to sea Sunday by a rip current.

The U.S. Coast Guard and New Jersey State Marine recovered the body shortly after.

Hammond, a recent graduate of Grover Washington Jr. Middle School, had accompanied a friend to the Shore to celebrate his moving out of Philadelphia to Ocean City.

He was part of a group of 15 swimmers near 9th Street who were caught by a swift undercurrent.  Lifeguards and police successfully rescued 14 of them.

The boy was reported missing shortly before 7 p.m.

A cousin, Jaquil Hunter, 11, told an Inquirer reporter that he was with Hammond shortly before the older boy disappeared. Hunter said Hammond had tried to pull him in on his back.

"A big wave came in and knocked us all out of place," Hunter said. "He tried to pull me on his back, and he went under. A lady came and got me and another boy."

This is a developing story.