A nine-year-old boy has been found dead after he lost his parents during a trip to the Ikea store in Brooklyn.
The tragedy unfolded on Wednesday night when the boy, who had autism and was non-verbal, went shopping with his parents at the Swedish furniture store in Red Hook, the NYPD said.
The nine-year-old, who has not been publicly named, wandered away from his parents and went missing.
A frantic search was launched to find the missing boy who was last seen wearing a black shirt, blue shorts, and orange Crocs – with law enforcement drafting in drones, K9s, and boats in a race to try to find him.
Surveillance footage captured him walking out of the back of the store in the direction of the boardwalk and pier on the Erie Basin, ABC7 reported.
The search turned to tragedy when investigators first located the little boy’s Crocs floating in the Red Hook channel.
At around 12.15am on Thursday morning – around three hours after he disappeared – divers found his body in the water near 1 Beard Street.
He was taken to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The boy is believed to have drowned, with no criminality suspected at this time.
One witness described the tragedy as heartbreaking.
Police boats and dive teams search for the boy— (ABC7 )
“I have kids and I have grandkids of my own. It’s heartbreaking,” they told ABC7.
“And I’ve never seen anything like this. You hear about this on TV, but this is heart-wrenching.”
Another man, who works close to the Ikea store, added: “It’s a shame. I know they had big boats looking, firefighters everywhere, cops everywhere.
“They even asked one of my coworkers to check the cameras to get any further details.”
