6-year-old Alimou Diallo found safe sleeping in neighbor's car after frantic 8-hour search in Newark
NEWARK, N.J. -- Six-year-old Alimou Diallo is safe and back home with his family in Newark after a harrowing search Monday.
Finding the boy was the culmination of an 8-hour, all-hands-on-deck effort in the Weequahic area of the city.
Diallo, who is diagnosed with autism, was last seen at his family's home on Elizabeth Avenue at around 2 a.m. Around three hours later, his mother noticed him missing.
Dozens of police officers and firefighters from Newark and beyond flooded the area and combed through the neighborhood and nearby Weequahic Park.
Police even blasted Diallo's favorite song, "Baby Shark," hoping he would hear it and come to them.
Watch Nick Caloway's report
Then, at around 1 p.m., a FedEx driver walking by noticed a child slouched over in a car and alerted his super who immediately came over.
It was Diallo.
"I knocked on the window, I knocked on the glass, he didn't move. I said, 'Oh my God, Jesus Christ!' I ran and called the police because were all over," said the driver. "They came by and we broke the glass and thank God he was alive."
"And he found the kid inside the truck. So we called the police on the corner, and police came and broke the windows," said Rudy Medina, a witness.
The car was parked about four blocks from the boy's house.
"Glad he's OK. You know, we can replace these windows. That's nothing. But you can't replace a life," said Razohn Eure, who owns the car Diallo fell asleep in.
Eure believes he left the car unlocked overnight.
"No telling where he would have ended up. So I guess it was a blessing that the car was unlocked," said Eure.
Diallo was checked out by paramedics after being reunited with his family. He was not hurt.
A local elected official told CBS New York the massive search effort proves Newark is strong when people come together.