A former Dallas Cowboys tight end and another rock climber died after they fell a "significant height" on a Southern California mountain, officials said Thursday.
Gavin Escobar, 31, and Chelsea Walsh, 33, fell Wednesday at Tahquitz Rock, a popular climbing destination 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt. Brandy Swan said.
The cause of death was not listed in coroner's records. Swan said their deaths appeared to be a "complete accident."
Despite recent rain, she said it did not appear that weather played a part.
A spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department, where Escobar began working this year, confirmed his death Thursday at Tahquitz Rock. Escobar had been assigned to a station north of downtown Long Beach, the fire department said in a statement.
"Prior to being a Long Beach Firefighter, Gavin Escobar played professional football for the NFL, where he spent most of his time with the Dallas Cowboys," it said on Twitter. "Firefighter Escobar leaves behind his wife and two young children."
The Cal Fire/Riverside Fire Department said Wednesday that it responded to a report of two injured climbers at Tahquitz Rock at 12:25 p.m.
Firefighters who found the pair in a remote area and pronounced them dead were unable to recover their bodies, Swan said. A sheriff's mountain rescue team dispatched to Tahquitz Rock completed the operation at about 8 p.m., Swan said.
Escobar played for the Cowboys for four seasons beginning in 2013. His final season in the NFL, with the Baltimore Ravens, was in 2017.
The Cowboys posted a photo of Escobar on Twitter on Thursday, saying: "Forever in our hearts."
