The body of a 4-year-old boy who went missing in Hopkins, Minn., on Sunday, June 9, was found Monday, June 10, according to a news release from Hopkins police.
Waeys Ali Mohamed was found dead in Minnehaha Creek near the 7800 block of Powell Road around 10:40 a.m. Monday, the Hopkins Police Department said, according to CBS News. He was found about 500 meters from his apartment building.
Mohamed was an autistic, non-verbal preschooler who went missing after leaving his apartment by himself around 7:30 Sunday morning.
Authorities issued an emergency alert Sunday morning, and police from Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the FBI, firefighters, drone pilots and State Patrol aircraft, multiple K-9 units, search and rescue teams and hundreds of civilians participated in the search, police Capt. Hopkins administration Craig Kreilin said, according to Kare 11.
“We provided a lot of public resources for this, but what really made sense in this case was the number of community members who came to help. And I think that speaks volumes for the community that we have here at Hopkins that we want to help each other,” Kreiling said, according to CBS News. “This is a terrible, tragic accident from everything we can determine.”
Mohamed likely died of accidental drowning, Kreiling said authorities are working with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the medical examiner’s office to determine the child’s cause of death.
“There are a lot of rumors and speculations about this case, about different things that have been published on social media. What I can say is that we have evidence that Waeys left this apartment building on his own and there is no room to try to blame anyone else now,” he said. Kreiling.
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Waeys Ali Mohamed.
gofundme
A GoFundMe page has been created to help the child’s mother with her afterlife expenses. “Our goal is to collect donations to help a single mother financially as she goes through this challenging time,” the donation description began.
“It is impossible to fully convey who Waeys was in words. He was a lively, funny and good-natured boy who brought joy to everyone around him!” read the description.
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Waeys Ali Mohamed.
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According to the Star Tribune, a small memorial was erected Monday night near the bridge that crosses Minnehaha Creek, and several local residents paid tribute to the preschooler. “It’s just horrible that a young life was taken early and I feel so sorry for the family,” Hopkins resident Barbara Addington said.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added, “People in the community are feeling anguish and they were hoping to hear good news, but they felt as time went on that it wasn’t good news.”
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A representative for the Hopkins Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Monday.
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Source: HIS Education