UPDATE: North Carolina political strategist killed in boating accident

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - Several prominent politicians including Governor Roy Cooper are mourning the loss of a political strategist who died over Memorial Day weekend in a boating mishap.

Gov. Cooper and House Minority Leader Robert Rieves are among the many that expressed condolences for 42-year-old Conen Morgan.

“Conen Morgan’s hard work and determination made a real, positive difference for people of North Carolina. His loss is a tragedy and we send our deepest sympathy to his family and friends,” Cooper wrote on Twitter.

Morgan’s background includes being the past president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina and was most recently a board member of Advance Carolina.

Multiple media outlets in Raleigh report that Morgan died in a boating accident on the coast.

On Monday, the National Park Service issued a press release sharing details of a boating related death at Shackleford Banks but Morgan was not named in in it.

Officials said three people were on a rented boat around 4:30 p.m. Sunday when it took a wave that threw them into the water.

Officials said the three people were able to get to Shackleford Banks but that a man in his mid-forties collapsed around the wave line. The two other passengers were unable to move the victim but that they started CPR and called 911 around 4:47 p.m.

National Park Service rangers were able to get to the three people in 15 minutes. An AED was used on the victim while they waited for paramedics with Harkers Island Fire Department and Beaufort Fire Department to arrive.

CPR was conducted for an hour but the victim did not make it.

The park service said that there were 7-to-9-foot swells at the time of the accident.

The U.S. Coast Guard and N.C. Wildlife are leading the accident investigation.

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