A five-year-old autistic boy is the second to drown at one Florida apartment complex pool in just two months.
The boy, who was not publicly identified, was found in a retention pond at the Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex in Tampa after a search by more than 140 police units on Friday.
He was reported missing by his 'frantic' father around 9.30am.
The pair had woken up around 5am in their shared bed, where the father had offered his son a drink of water, but the boy declined, and they had both gone back to sleep, Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a press conference.
After waking up at 9am, he noticed his son was not in bed and began searching the apartment. He eventually noticed a screen door to the patio had been broken.
The father then called his mother, who lives with them, to ask if the boy was with her. When he wasn't, he called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff deployed more than 140 deputies to the area to search for the child using aviation and drone technology, a K9 unit, and a dive team.
One of the bloodhounds continuously circled the retention pond, which was located roughly 30 feet behind the apartment.
The boy, who was not publicly identified, was found in a retention pond at the Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex in Tampa on Friday
A bloodhound kept circling the pond and a dive team member found the boy deceased
Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said the father reported the boy missing around 9.30am after he was unable to find him in the apartment and noticed the patio screen door had been broken
A dive team member found the child deceased under roughly five feet of water.
He is the second autistic child who has drowned at the apartment complex in just two months. Although the other child, who was also five years old, died in a different retention pond, the sheriff said.
The five-year-old that was discovered on Friday had just celebrated his birthday and was about to go into kindergarten.
'Now, on Monday, instead of celebrating the first day of school, they have to plan a funeral,' Chronister said.
'There are no words that can ease the pain of losing a child.'
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