Law Enforcement Works Together, Rescues Lost Boy on Eglin Range

Law Enforcement responded to a report of a missing child around the eastern reaches of Rocky Bayou Monday afternoon – the first day of the first full week of The Okaloosa County School District’s Summer Break.

Members of the Eglin Air Force Base Fire and Police Departments, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Coast Guard and North Bay Fire Department were spotted in and around Rocky Bayou and its tributarys as a search stretched into the beginning of the sun’s descent for the evening.

Helicopters from the life flight service and Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office flew low overhead and first responders combed the backroads fearing the worst.

SUMMER TRAGEDY ON THE EMERALD COAST: Two die in drowning incident in Destin.

At a standby station near State Route 293, Eglin Firefighters waited with anticipation for the call to come to the aid of the child. To pass the time between calls, one firefighter showed photos of his own six-month-old child.

Finally, at around 5:10 in the afternoon, the call came in over the radios of first responders in the area: FWC believed they had the boy in their custody, almost a mile and a half up an unidentified creek from where he had begun. Moments later, another voice came in over the handheld radios – they confirmed the identity of the missing child.

A collective sigh of relief swept over the gathered first responders as faces lightening and tense shoulders relaxed.

A team that was preparing to relieve their counterparts on a Sheriff’s Helicopter search detail stood down and clambered back into their trucks – some to their homes and others, presumably, to continue their shifts.

Social media lighted up with well wishes, and a couple of frustrated remarks directed at the parents.