Muhammad Sakho missing from Philadelphia since Jan. 20: police searching for information
Philadelphia police are searching for a 10-year-old boy who has been missing since Tuesday morning.
Muhammad Sakho 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.
"Due to Muhammad being 10 years old and the extreme weather conditions, we are extremely concerned for his wellbeing," Capt. Joseph Busa of the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detective Division said. "We are using every resource available to us to get him home safely to his family."
Sakho is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, about 100 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. His aunt says Muhammad was last seen wearing a black hoodie with the video game character Mario on it, a light green jacket and blue jeans, with a blue backpack.
He is a 4th grader at Penrose, according to the School District of Philadelphia.
Busa said surveillance video shows Muhammad was dropped off at Penrose by his father at 8:06 a.m., and 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.
"They just said after he ate breakfast, he just wandered off, he went to go outside to go play, and they stated that he just wandered outside, I guess, the little area where they play at after they ate breakfast. And then the camera, they couldn't see nothing else on camera," Muhammad's stepfather 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, aunt and stepfather — did not know that information.
Muhammad's mother said she wants her son to come home.
"Muhammad, if you see this and you're out there, please contact us if you're safe," she said. "You're not in trouble, there's nothing going on, you won't be hurt or anything, we love you and we miss you and we're all praying for your safe return."
"This is unlike him and his character; he's happy, he's a happy little kid," Muhammad's mother continued. "There's nothing concerning that I know of as of yet that would make me think he would want to run away."
The family is asking anyone who lives near the school and has any surveillance cameras to please check the footage for possible sightings of Muhammad.
Police ask anyone with information to call 911 or 215-686-3183.
