JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville City Council member called for an emergency meeting Monday after a missing 5-year-old’s body was found in a Southside pond.
Jacksonville police and firefighters searched about two hours Sunday morning for Mohamad Nour before finding him dead in a retention pond near his family’s home.
Dozens of first responders searched the Wolf Creek community near Beach and Hodges boulevards using a helicopter, drones, boats and K-9s.
The 5-year-old had autism, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said in its missing persons briefing.
“The parents have tried to take steps to keep him guarded,” said Assistant Chief Brian Kee. “It looks like he went out the front door, maybe unlatched it.”
Kee said Mohamad was reported missing by his parents at 8:48 a.m. Sunday after he was last seen around 6 a.m. on Stone Pond Drive. Kee said officers arrived within minutes and that 32 Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers and 48 personnel with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department were involved.
Shortly after 10 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office posted the boy’s photo on social media and asked for the public’s help locating him.
Around 10:50 a.m., Kee said, a JFRD boat found the boy dead in a pond just east of his neighborhood.
It raises concerns about retention ponds, which are often not fenced and have steep sides to collect water.
In 2019, a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old drowned in two separate incidents -- one occurring on the Southside, the other in Macclenny. News4Jax records show that since 2016, at least eight children have died in ponds throughout the Jacksonville-area.
“It’s important to talk to your neighbors and let them know if you have small children, particularly in this case a child with autism, that might be attracted to water,” said councilwoman LeAnna Cumber.
She and councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman had already been working on a retention pond safety campaign, which would include educating children and families of the dangers and potentially pushing for stricter regulations.
Jacksonville has 235 public retention ponds, but hundreds more are on private property.
LINK: COJ website on retention pond safety
Monday, in wake of Mohamad’s death, Cumber called an emergency meeting with city administrators to discuss how to make them safer.
Requiring fencing was one of the suggestions.
“Some ponds, depending on the slope, are required to have fences,” Cumber said. “Others can have natural barriers around the pond.”
According to city code: “Side slopes are not to be steeper than a maximum of 4:1 and shall be used on all manmade basins. Side slopes steeper than 4:1 may be approved by the City Engineer provided permanent bank stabilization and fencing is constructed.”
Cumber pointed out that while fences could solve some problems, they won’t eliminate the risk. They can attract people to see what’s on the other side and they can also get in the way of first responders in the event of an emergency in the pond.
“Once we as a city come up with agreement with next steps with what to do with our own ponds then we’ll add a requirement for private ponds,” she said.
News4Jax reached out to the Wolf Creek Townhomes homeowners’ association. A manager said it’s a private community and that she had no comment.
Statewide in Florida, a permit to build a retention pond is required and the property owner is held responsible to maintain it. However, there is no law across the board requiring a fence or other safety additions.
Mohamad’s family has not spoken publicly about the tragedy. In addition to the child having autism, Jacksonville police said he was also nonverbal.
Lauren Papki is an autism therapist.
“Children with autism are often very visual learners, so they are going to be much more receptive to visual cues versus auditory,” Papki explained. “Something as simple as putting a visual stop sign at a child’s eye level at exits to their home, to their room.”
LINKS: Autismspeaks.org | Nationalautismassocation.org
Papki said swimming lessons or a therapy dog might also help a child with autism.
St. Johns County offers tracking devices for vulnerable children who may wander without notice. The Jacksonville and Clay County sheriff’s offices have been trained to communicate with people living with autism.