Teenager killed in hiking accident near Central California lake identified

SHAVER LAKE - A teenage boy who fell to his death along with his father while the two were hiking in Central California's Shaver Lake was identified Monday, authorities said.

The boy is Brayden Byers, 14, Fresno County Sheriff's spokesman Tony Botti said.

Rescue crews recovered the father's body later Monday. He has not been identified, Botti said.

Byers and his father were walking Saturday along a hiking trail in an area known as Shaver Rock, on the northeast side of the lake, when they fell off an embankment and died. Deputies and firefighters responded to the area, along with a sheriff's helicopter, but the pair had fallen into a deep canyon and rescue crews were unable to reach the bodies.

Brayden, of Fresno, was a ninth-grade student at Clovis High School, Clovis Unified School District spokeswoman Kelly Avants told the Modesto Bee.

School psychologists are at the school helping students affected by Brayden's death, she said. "We are heartbroken over this tragedy, and have reached out to the family to offer our resources and support," Clovis High Principal Denver Stairs said in a statement.