Law enforcement, teachers, family and community members joined in a feverish search for a 5-year-old boy who was reported missing after he left his apartment Thursday afternoon.
“We all want him to be safe and found, and that’s that,” Shatori Davenport, one of Indi Bullock’s teachers, told Channel 2 Action News during the search.
Less than 24 hours later, his body was recovered by divers in a nearby retention pond.
Gwinnett County police, with the help of K-9s and dive teams, had searched the apartment complex, nearby woods and two ponds for the nonverbal boy, who disappeared after jumping over his apartment’s balcony Thursday afternoon.
Chakia Carter, who says she is the boy’s mother, shared in a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for funeral expenses that the family’s “hearts are shattered by this unimaginable loss.”
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
“Indi was a bright, beautiful soul who brought joy to everyone who knew him. His absence leaves a void that can never be filled,” she said.
Police spokesman Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle called the discovery of the boy’s body a “tragic end” to the search.
“It’s emotional for everyone involved — crime scene techs, detectives, I’m sure, those who are searching the water," Winderweedle said. “It’s hard for everyone to deal with: an innocent child that just walked away.”
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Police do not suspect foul play but treated the area as a crime scene, Winderweedle said. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Indi left his home at the Reflections on Sweetwater Apartments, located at 3405 Sweetwater Road, shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. The complex is just east of Pleasant Hill Road and backs up to the MAA Prescott apartment community.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
First responders searched the two ponds between the properties. The boy’s body was recovered in the pond behind his apartment complex, officials said.
Winderweedle told reporters at the scene Friday that “every available person that the department has” aided in the search effort.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources brought in a remotely operated submarine with cameras, which scanned one of the ponds “for four to five hours” Thursday. A helicopter and drones also aided the search with thermal imaging cameras, police said.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Gwinnett’s fire department deployed its Swift Water Rescue Team and the Hall County Sheriff’s Office’s dive team has also joined the search effort.
Several community members, including teachers and neighbors, also assisted in the search, he added.
“He is a very sweet, loving boy. He really is,” Jessica Morales, one of Indi’s teachers, told Channel 2.
— AJC freelance photojournalist Ben Hendren contributed to this article.
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