Missing Philadelphia boy found safe after last seen at school, police say
Philadelphia police say 10-year-old Muhammad Sakho has been found. He was found in Upper Chichester on Wednesday, according to police. He had been missing since Tuesday morning.
Before he was found, Muhammad was last seen at Penrose Elementary School, at 78th Street and Buist Avenue in the Eastwick section of the city, shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to police.
Muhammad told police that he left school on foot to follow a mail truck and eventually took a bus to a McDonald's in the Upper Chichester area. He said he then took an Uber to the nearby apartment complex where he previously lived. He slept on a bench near that apartment complex Tuesday night.
Upper Chichester police found Muhammad on Wednesday. He told police he walked to a nearby dollar store to pick up pillows and blankets for the night.
"I'm feeling very relieved. I'm happy that he's safe and he's unharmed, and everything's OK," Muhammad's mother Stephanie Chapman said.
A School District of Philadelphia spokesperson said school staff always monitor the breakfast period. CBS News Philadelphia is working to learn more about how the boy was able to leave school without any adults realizing.
Capt. Joseph Busa, of the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detective Division, said surveillance video shows Muhammad being dropped off at Penrose by his father at 8:06 a.m. Two minutes later, the child is seen entering the cafeteria, where he and other children were served breakfast.
The cafeteria is in a separate wing of the building from the classrooms, and it doesn't appear Muhammad made it into the main school building after breakfast, Busa and Muhammad's family said.
Though Muhammad didn't make it to class in the morning, the family didn't get word that he wasn't in class until 4:30 p.m., when he didn't show for his after-school program. Muhammad is scheduled to stay at school until 6:30 p.m.
It's possible Muhammad's father received a notification from the school district sooner, but the relatives who appeared at the news conference — Muhammad's mother, her fiance and his aunt — did not know that information.
