Police in upstate New York are urgently searching for a 7-year-old nonverbal autistic boy, identified as the nephew of a Michigan mayor, after he disappeared from a family gathering Sunday afternoon.
Harbe Nagi was last seen around 4:10 p.m. Sunday at a graduation celebration in Menands, a village just north of Albany, according to WNYT and the Menands Police Department. Authorities believe he may have wandered away from the party.
Nagi, who is autistic and nonverbal, is not from the neighborhood and primarily speaks Arabic. As of Monday night, police said he had not yet been found.
The missing boy is the nephew of Hamtramck, Michigan, Mayor Adam Alharbi, who traveled to New York to join his family as the search continued. Alharbi has asked the public to keep Nagi in their thoughts, according to ClickOnDetroit and WNYT.
Police described Nagi as about 3 feet 7 inches tall and approximately 48 pounds. In a statement, the department noted that he is known to wander and explore and has a “strong interest in water.”
Authorities also said Nagi enjoys being outdoors, climbing, and listening to music, particularly “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star.”
As part of the search effort, officials have placed ice cream trucks near the area where Nagi was last seen, hoping the familiar music might draw him out.
Alharbi, who is the brother of Nagi’s mother, told WNYT that the family is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his nephew’s safe return.
“The child was trying to escape the house,” Alharbi told the outlet from an airport in Baltimore on his way to join the search.
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“He has autism. He’s tried to escape the house several times before, but the mom would follow him and get him back into the house.”
Alharbi said Nagi was with his mother at the party when he walked off and vanished.
“As soon as I found out, I booked a flight. I haven’t slept yet. I’m in Baltimore waiting on the next flight to Albany,” the mayor said.
Nagi’s family moved to Albany from New York City a few years ago. The family is originally from Yemen, but the uncle said Nagi was born in the US.
Several community members, including those from neighboring towns, have rushed to the area to help with the desperate search for Nagi.
“I opened my garage, went all around my house, you never know, looked everywhere in my backyard. And then after that I went out with the search,” neighbor Heidi Iyok told the outlet.
Nagi was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt, dark pants, and no shoes. He has brown eyes and brown hair, cops said.
Police urged the public not to be alarmed by a large police presence in the neighborhood and to monitor their own private surveillance cameras and easily climbed structures for signs of the boy.
Cops do not believe that anyone was involved in the child’s disappearance, but are still investigating all possibilities with the assistance of New York State Police, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI’s Albany Office.
Anyone who runs into Nagi should call 911 and speak softly, as he may become overwhelmed.
