7-year-old Florida boy found dead in lake after running out of mother’s car

Hours after a statewide Missing Child Alert was issued for a 7-year-old Florida boy, his body was found in a lake early Tuesday.

Volusia County search crews located Charlie Newton’s lifeless body in a lake hours after he ran out of his family’s car.

Newton’s mother tried to catch up to him but failed and called 911. Sheriff Mike Chitwood said that a neighbor made the grim discovery of the boy’s body.

“It’s just difficult to look at these young kids and say, what can we do? Where have we failed? How is this continually happening?” the sheriff wondered, noting that Newton had autism.

Mayor Santiago Avila suggested giving children swimming lessons to prevent future drownings.

“One is too many. We can’t continue to allow this to happen.”