Authorities have identified the body of a man pulled from a pond near an Anne Arundel County mall following a shoplifting incident allegedly involving the deceased.
Tavon Talley, of Baltimore, drowned after fleeing from mall security officers at Arundel Mills on Monday night, police said.
According to investigators, Talley, 26, entered the three-acre sediment pond just before 9 p.m. and was urged by mall security personnel to return to the side of the pond, but he did not.
At one point, police say the suspect appeared to swim down into the pond and didn't resurface.
Divers found Talley under water near the middle of the pond around 11:15 p.m.
The pond is approximately 20 feet deep in the middle, and is filled with sediment and a thick growth of underwater vegetation.
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A forensic examiner responded to the scene and found no trauma to the body, which was then taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy. The preliminary cause of death appears to be drowning, with the manner accidental pending toxicology reports.
Talley was accompanied by Tania D. Turner, 26, of Baltimore, at the time of the alleged shoplifting incident. Turner has been charged with committing theft under $1,000 for her role in the incident, police said.
