A young Battle Creek boy who went missing Tuesday has now been located.

The Battle Creek Police Department sent out a warning Tuesday evening, that 10-year-old Gabriel had gone missing in the area of the Teal Run Apartments on Glenn Cross Rd; they said that he has autism, so they were looking to locate him quickly. Within the hour, the BCPD says that Gabriel was found and returned to his family safely.

Authorities sent out a thank you to the public, “for helping to bring him home”.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a study published in the journal Pediatrics found that almost half of all families with children with autism reported that those children had wandered away from safe environments before. They say that children with autism could go missing as they are seeking out small or enclosed spaces, while trying to escape overwhelming stimuli like sights and sounds, or while wandering towards places of special interest to them.

THE NCMEC has created resources to help law enforcement, rescue services, and community members when they are helping to foster friendly environments for those children with special needs.

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