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Fans took quickly to social media on Monday as news of Warner’s accidental drowning death in Costa Rica spread.

DETROIT — For Black youth and teens growing up in the mid-1980s, “The Cosby Show” offered something rarely seen on television up until that time — a sitcom that placed characters who looked like them in a positive light.

And Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s “Theo Huxtable” was the character Generation X most related to. Fans took quickly to social media on Monday as news of Warner’s accidental drowning in Costa Rica spread.

“It’s like losing one of us,” said Harriet Cammock, a 58-year-old Detroit author and speaker. “This is the thing with television. When you’re watching people every week on television, you think you know them and you’re related to them.”

Warner was swimming Sunday afternoon at Playa Cocles in Costa Rica’s Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the Caribbean, according to that country’s Judicial Investigation Department.

First responders found him without vital signs.

“The Cosby Show” was groundbreaking and a ratings giant, drawing in viewers across racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. The show ran for 197 episodes from 1984 to 1992. In 1986, Warner earned an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy.

The show starring Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad as his wife Clair and “made the wider society aware that there are Black people who live like white people do,” said Cammock, who is Black. “The perception that we don’t live like they do was hurtful.”

Lynn Reasonover, 62, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, began receiving messages Monday afternoon about Warner’s death. Her initial thoughts were “Nope, didn’t happen.”

“Then, I kept seeing the news flashes and friends started sending texts,” Reasonover said. “So, it’s sinking in. Makes you realize how much some celebrities help shape our memories. His work had such a huge impact. I’m feeling a personal loss because we grew up with him. It’s like losing a part of our childhood.”

Reasonover saw much of her family in the Huxtables where both parents were professionals who valued education and handled family issues with understanding and love.

“They had similar problems to what we experienced growing up,” she said. “We could relate and that’s why we laughed.”

Rasheda Williams, 46, of Detroit was about the same age as Rudy, the youngest character on “The Cosby Show” and Theo’s little sister. Williams said she and others are mourning Warner’s passing because of what they saw in the character he played.

“He’s like the ideal cousin you wish you had,” Williams said. “Hearing the news has really affected some of us. It was unexpected. He wasn’t sick. That makes it even more tragic.”

“He wasn’t just an actor,” she said. “He was also an activist, a positive role model, not just for young Black men, but for young Black women as well.”

Mangione was known for his frequent appearances on ‘King of the Hill,’ set in the fictional North Texas town of Arlen.

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NEW YORK — Two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavored single “Feels So Good” and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy “King of the Hill,” has died. He was 84.

Mangione died at his home in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday in his sleep, said his attorney, Peter S. Matorin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. The musician had been retired since 2015.

Perhaps his biggest hit — “Feels So Good” — is a staple on most smooth-jazz radio stations and has been called one of the most recognized melodies since “Michelle” by the Beatles. It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

“It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level,” Mangione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008.

He followed that hit with “Give It All You Got,” commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, and he performed it at the closing ceremony.

Mangione, a flugelhorn and trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizable following after recording several albums, doing all the writing.

He won his first Grammy Award in 1977 for his album “Bellavia,” which was named in honor of his mother. Another album, “Friends and Love,” was also Grammy-nominated, and he earned a best original score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie “The Children of Sanchez.”

Mangione introduced himself to a new audience when he appeared on the first several seasons of “King of the Hill,” appearing as a commercial spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, where “shopping feels so good.”

Mangione, brother of jazz pianist Gap Mangione, with whom he partnered in The Jazz Brothers, started his career as a bebop jazz musician heavily inspired by Dizzy Gillespie.

“He also was one of the first musicians I saw who had a rapport with the audience by just telling the audience what he was going to play and who was in his band,” Mangione told the Post-Gazette.

Mangione earned a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music — where he would eventually return as director of the school’s jazz ensemble — and left home to play with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

He donated his signature brown felt hat and the score of his Grammy-winning single “Feels So Good,” as well as albums, songbooks and other ephemera from his long and illustrious career to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2009.

“Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more,” Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters.

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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Eleven people were stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City on Saturday — with six in critical condition — in what a Michigan sheriff said appeared to be a random act. A suspect was in custody, authorities said.

Around 4:45 p.m., a 42-year-old man entered the store and used a folding knife to stab 11 people, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media. A sheriff’s deputy arrived within minutes and took the man into custody, and people in the store also helped apprehend the suspect and treat victims, the sheriff’s office said.

The victims’ ages weren’t immediately released.

“Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more,” Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters.

Emergency vehicles and uniformed first responders gathered in the parking lot of the shopping center that houses several other retail stores. Authorities also were seen interviewing employees, still wearing blue uniform vests and name tags, nearby as the response gave way to an investigation.

Tiffany DeFell, 36, who lives in Honor, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Traverse City, said she was in the store’s parking lot when she saw chaos erupt around her.

“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. “This is something you see out of the movies. It’s not what you expect to see where you’re living.”

Munson Healthcare said via social media that 11 people were being treated at the region’s largest hospital in northern Michigan. Spokesperson Megan Brown said all were stabbing victims. Six people were critical and five were in serious condition late Saturday, she said.

Shea said the weapon involved appeared to be a folding-style knife. Shea said the suspect is believed to be a Michigan resident but declined to share further details. Michigan State Police had said earlier in the day that the suspect was in authorities’ custody.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said: “Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence.”

Walmart said in a statement that it would continue to work closely with law enforcement in the investigation.

“Violence like this is unacceptable. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and we’re thankful for the swift action of first responders,” the statement said.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said in a social media post that bureau officials were responding to “provide any necessary support.”

Traverse City is a popular vacation spot on the coast of Lake Michigan. It is known for its cherry festival, wineries and lighthouses and is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Justin police are looking for the person who dumped domesticated rats on the roadside.

JUSTIN, Texas — Officers in Justin, Texas, stumbled upon an interesting find on the side of the road on Saturday.

According to the Justin Police Department, officers found domesticated rats dumped on the side of the road. The department says they are black hooded fancy rats, which is a breed of rat commonly used in pet shows due to its unique pigmentation.

Puppies being dumped on the side of the road by irresponsible breeders is a fairly common crime in North Texas, but rats are a new one. Thankfully, Justin PD announced that a Rhome organization, DFW Rat Rescue, was able to take the rodents in for safekeeping. You can adopt rats from that organization here.