The search for a missing four-year-old boy with autism came to a tragic end in Hopkins, Minnesota on Monday when searchers found the boy deceased in Minnehaha Creek near his home.
Police said Waeys Ali Mohamed was least seen around 7:30 Sunday morning near the Chorus Apartments off second street northeast in the Twin Cities' suburb of Hopkins. Monday afternoon, police announced the boy had been found in the Creek.
He was located at 10:40 a.m. by a person trying to search for him. He was approximately 500 yards downstream from his apartment building.
Hopkins Police Captain Craig Kreiling said an investigation into exactly how Waeys died will continue but it appears he drowned. The creek is running very high and fast after significant rain in the Twin Cities this spring.
"There are, what has happened in this incident, and then there's a lot of rumor that gets put out on social media or online," says Kreiling. "And because people want information, what I'm asking for is let this play out, give the family some space, give them the respect they need to grieve."
Hopkins Police called this a tragic accident and that the boy left the apartment on his own. While searching for Waeys, police and family noted that the boy was drawn to water.
"What I can say is we have evidence that Weiss left this apartment building on his own accord and there is no room to try to blame anybody else right now," Kreiling explains.
"He's non-verbal, so with children like this, oftentimes they will hide, oftentimes they will hunker down and not come out, even if they hear their name," said Kreiling said during the search.