6-year-old’s body found in river after riding bike at park with other kids, MN cops say
The body of a 6-year-old was recovered from the Mississippi River Monday after a group of children waded into the water, Minnesota police say.
Five children were taken to a park in Minneapolis to ride bikes Saturday evening by two adults, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Some of the children decided to wade into the Mississippi River, but three got in too deep and began to struggle in the water, according to police.
An adult was able to pull two of the children to safety, but the third went missing, police said.
Officials responded to the scene around 6:20 p.m. and searched for the child for nearly 40 hours.
The 6-year-old’s body was discovered around 11 a.m. Monday near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge roughly half-a-mile from where the children had waded into the river, according to police.
“This has been an extremely difficult few days,” Sheriff Dave Hutchinson said in the release. “Water Patrol has been working tirelessly and the family has been at the scene the entire time. For them, this heartbreaking story is far from over, but we hope that the recovery of the child’s body can be a first step towards healing.”
Officials said that the river is deep near the shoreline and has a strong current, making it easy for the children to get into danger near the shore, the Star Tribune reported.
Police have not released the child’s name.
