LAKE CITY, Fla. — The Lake City Police Department responded to a call Wednesday about a missing 12-year-old girl with autism at PetSmart after her mother reported she had wandered away. The call came in at about 9:30 p.m.
Officers arrived and met the girl’s mother, who explained that her daughter was last seen looking at cats available for adoption. Other customers mentioned seeing the child heading toward the back of the store, prompting a search, a Lake City police news release states.
Officers spotted the girl on the roof of the building. Attempts to communicate with her from the ground were unsuccessful, the news release states.
The Lake City Fire Department and Columbia EMS were called in to assist. Firefighters and paramedics began devising a rescue strategy, consulting with the girl’s mother as they planned to reach her on the roof. Rescue attempts initially involved taking the mother and a firefighter to the roof using the Fire Department’s tower truck. However, this proved unsuccessful when the girl became frightened and moved to another part of the roof before attempting to climb down a gutter pipe, the news release states.
Responders swiftly relocated to the back of the building and placed a ladder beneath her, allowing them to prevent her from falling. Despite the rescue efforts, the girl refused to descend and instead continued to climb back higher toward the roof.
Two Lake City Police Department officers and a firefighter were positioned above the child. They successfully reached her when she came into range and safely transferred her to the Fire Department’s tower truck, which lowered her to the ground where her mother was waiting.
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