The 17-year-old boy rescued from the waters off Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on Thursday night has reportedly died.

The teen, identified by family members to PIX 11 as Johnny Vasquez, was pulled from Raritan Bay about 5 p.m. after voluntarily going into the waters near the Perth Amboy Yacht Club about three hours earlier, authorities said.

He was taken to Hackensack Medical Center in cardiac arrest, but could not be saved.

“Johnny was a special boy,” his family said in a statement to the news station. “He was a young man with a heart of gold and a whole world in front of him.”

The teen’s family said Johnny was autistic and suffered from epilepsy.