GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The body of a missing 6-year-old boy was pulled from a pond in Gaithersurg Sunday evening, according to Montgomery County Police.
Fawzan Hassan, a child with non-verbal autism, had gone missing a little more than 24 hours before. His family said he had last been seen at Bohrer Park on Frederick Avenue Saturday at 3 p.m. Just before 5:30 p.m. Sunday, community members spotted a body in the pond at Bohrer Park, and contacted police. The body was positively identified as Fawzan.
Fawzan's father, Tofik Hassan, said he left his kids with his mother-in-law while he ran to grab some items from his car, and when he came back, his son was missing.
"She said, 'we lost him, Fawzan,'" Tofik Hassan recalled.
He described his son as a kid who loved the playground, and would run and play whenever he saw one. The playground at Bohrer Park was within eye distance of the pond, police said.
Prior to Fawzan's body being found, Tofik Hassan had told reporters he was devestated not only that his child was missing, but also that he could not call home, or ask for help, due to his non-verbal autism.
“He doesn’t know my phone number, he doesn’t know my name, the only thing he says is Dad and Mom, that’s it," Hassan said.
Investigators had previously said the pond had been checked twice, and when reporters asked why Fawzan had not been found during those searches, authorities said searches cannot 100% rule out that a body is not in a body of water.
"A lot of times unfortunately we have to wait and see if we get something that comes to the surface," MCPD Lieutenant Kristina Hedgepeth said.
She declined to comment on where in the pond the body was found, and added that divers were not able to be used in the search due to a snapping turtle issue in the pond.
When asked what her message was to any parent watching, Hedgepeth recommended keeping your "head on a swivel" and to "be vigilant."
"Unfortunately things like this do happen, tragedies do happen," she said.
Members of the Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland Capitol Police, Maryland State Police, Gaithersburg Police, Montgomery County Fire Rescue, Mid-Atlantic Dog Search and Rescue and community members were all part of the search for Fawzan.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine Fawzan's cause of death.
WATCH: Montgomery County Police give update on body found in Bohrer Park