SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – Authorities are investigating a drowning in South Miami-Dade that claimed the life of a 7-year-old boy and left his family devastated.<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office units responded to a 911 call about a missing child near Southwest 284th Street and 142nd Avenue, just after 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Deputies immediately began canvassing the area to locate the boy, identified as King Dixon, and requested additional resources, including aviation and K-9 units, to assist in the search.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur deputies arrived three minutes right after this call, and they began to search for this child,\u201d said MDSO Detective Joseph Peguo.<\/p>\n
Investigators said a deputy located King in a nearby canal.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the deputies was able to locate a body of water where he found a body floating. He immediately jumped in the water and removed this child,\u201d said Peguo. \u201cTwo other deputies began lifesaving efforts until Miami-Dade Fire Rescue arrived and airlifted the child to HCA [Florida] Kendall [Hospital].\u201d<\/p>\n
Detectives spent around 30 minutes performing CPR before Dixon was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition. Despite first responders\u2019 best efforts, the boy was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is our job to save lives, and our deputies did their best this night, and we want to keep this family in our prayers alongside our deputies that will take this home with them tonight,\u201d said Peguo.<\/p>\n
Now, a grandmother is left heartbroken as she remembers the life of her grandson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a dream, it\u2019s a dream because I don\u2019t expect, he\u2019s not sick to die like that,\u201d said Loustanie Dorval, Dixon\u2019s grandmother. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I can do. I don\u2019t know what I can do. My grandson. Lose like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
King\u2019s family said he was a loving child on the autism spectrum who loved food and to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves the water, he loves astronauts, he loves the color green, he loves his fruits,\u201d said his aunt, Vanessa Welsey. \u201cGod forbid you didn\u2019t give him beans with rice or watermelon in the morning. He liked to play. He was a jokester. He would do random stuff and just laugh about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe liked food, watermelon, grapes, strawberries. You don\u2019t give him a ball, he don\u2019t leave you alone,\u201d said Dorval.<\/p>\n
The family and a nearby resident said King wasn\u2019t found until shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday, so they wonder whether the outcome would have been different if he had been found more quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so sudden, and we didn\u2019t even get to say goodbye,\u201d said Welsey.<\/p>\n
Family members said he never tried to get in the water before.<\/p>\n
MDSO\u2019s Homicide Bureau has taken over the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
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