EX -WWE STAR SHAD GASPARD SEARCH CALLED OFF BY LAPD AND US COAST GUARD AFTER HE WENT MISSING IN STRONG SEA CURRENT

THE US Coast Guard and LAPD have reportedly called off the immediate search for former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard.

And the star, 39, is presumed dead after being pulled out to sea by a strong rip current on Sunday afternoon.

He disappeared while swimming at Venice Beach in California with his ten-year-old son and a group of others who got caught in a rip current around 4pm.

Gaspard is reported to have told lifeguards to save his boy first, and he was rescued in good condition and did not require any hospital treatment.

But in their attempts to save Gaspard, the rip current pulled him out to sea and he has not been seen despite hours of searching by the US Coast Guard’s helicopters and divers.

Although officially the search is never given up until they find a body, the status of the case will now be downgraded, says Wrestling News Source.

Pono Barnes, a lifeguard specialist with the Los Angeles Fire Department, said: "That group was stuck in one of the rip currents and were swimming just north of the lifeguard tower.

"That's why lifeguards were able to get there so soon, but unfortunately, one did, however, submerge."

The former pro wrestler was spending Sunday at the beach with his son and wife.

Gaspard is best-known for his work with partner JTG in the WWE tag team Cryme Tyme between 2006 and 2014.

Ensuring the safety of his son was not the first heroic act from the brave star.

Back in December 2016, he single-handedly stopped an armed robbery in Florida by seizing the assailant's gun and subduing him until police arrived.