The body of a 7-year-old boy who went missing from his day-camp was found Tuesday evening in the water off of Carson Beach in South Boston, authorities said.
Police and community members searched air, land, and sea for hours, before the Boston Police Harbor Unit, along with the Quincy Police found the body of Kyzr Willis of Dorchester, Mass. behind a local community center, the Boston Globe reported.
“My heart goes out to the family,” Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans told the paper. “This is a tragedy.”
The summer program – which is organized by the Boston Centers for Youth and Families – runs Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kyzr’s mother, Melissa Willis, said that she dropped her son off at camp at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday. When she returned to pick him up, he was nowhere to be found, according to the Globe.
Kyzr was last seen at about 2:05 p.m. at a bathhouse near the community center, police said.
It’s not yet clear exactly how Kyzr slipped away unnoticed by his counselors.
“He’s a good kid,” the devastated mom told the Globe. “I don’t know why he would ever go off. He’s always with an adult.”
“He’s a daredevil,” she continued. “He’s outgoing, he keeps you on your toes, and he’s just a great, intelligent kid.”
Kyzr would have been starting first grade in the fall.
The family learned the haunting conclusion of the search around 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday. They wept in the community center, before gathering in Dorchester to mourn, and be comforted by about 30 other friends and neighbors, the Globe reported.
“Everyone wants to know,” Sherie Seymore, a family friend, and assistant pastor at the family’s church told the paper. “If they saw him go into the bathhouse, how come they never saw him come out?”
The office of Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh told the Globe he was on his way back from the Democratic National Convention when he received the news.
“The city of Boston is devastated to learn of the tragic loss of Kyzr Willis,” the mayor said in a statement.
