rell826
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Really surprised no thread was made on this considering the large NYCcontingent we have on here. Besides the upcoming election, this has been the biggest story by far. To quickly sum it up, Oquendo is 14 years old and incapable of verbally communicating because of his autism. On October 4th, he walked out of his Queens school and hasn't been seen since. Along with the NYPD, his parents and volunteers have scoured the city searching for the teen. How he was able to walk out of his classroom and school with no one there to stop him is going to be the reason fire and brimstone rain down on the Board of Education and costs a number of people to lose their jobs. Heads are going to roll behind this despite how strong the Teachers Union is. I couldn't imagine being a parent and being completely helpless in this situation.
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[h1] [/h1][h1]Prayer Vigil Held In Hopes That Avonte Oquendo Will Be Found[/h1][h4]Family, Advocates Also Urge Public To Keep Searching[/h4][h6]October 27, 2013 7:11 PM[/h6]
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A woman holds a flier urging people to search for missing autistic teen Avonte Oquendo. (Credit: Gary Baumgarten/1010 WINS)
[h5]Filed under[/h5]Heard On 1010 WINS, WCBS, WFAN, Local, News, NY News, Radio.com - News, Syndicated Local, Syndication, Watch + Listen
[h5]Related tags[/h5]14-Year-Old Boy, autism, autistic, Avonte Oquendo, Center Boulevard School, Gary Baumgarten, National Action Network, Prayer Vigil, Queens, Rev. Phil Craig
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A prayer vigil was held Sunday asking for the safe return of Avonte Oquendo, the 14-year-old autistic boy who has been missing for more than three weeks.
As 1010 WINS’ Gary Baumgarten reported, it will be four weeks this coming Friday since Avonte disappeared. His photo has been plastered all over the city, but no one has apparently seen him.
Avonte is 5-foot-3 and weighs 125 pounds. The severely autistic and nonverbal 14-year-old boy was last seen wearing a gray striped shirt, black jeans and black shoes.
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Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit the Crime Stoppers website or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.
At the prayer vigil Sunday, Avonte’s family and others asked for his return, and for the public to keep looking for him.
“I understand – statistics may say that after a certain length of time that it may not look that good,” said the Rev. Phil Craig, the Queens chapter president of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. “But I don’t know about you, but I know God is able.”
Craig also thanked the NYPD for reversing itself, and not scaling back its search for Avonte.
Avonte was last spotted on surveillance video leaving the Center Boulevard School in Long Island City, Queens on Oct. 4.
Since then, all-out search efforts by the NYPD and hundreds of volunteers have not produced concrete clues.
A $70,000 reward is being offered by the group Autism Speaks for information about his whereabouts. In all, the reward is up to about $85,000.
[h1]School administrators didn't have access to surveillance camera footage the day 14-year-old autistic boy Avonte Oquendo disappeared[/h1]By Joshua Gardner and Ashley Collman
- Avonte Oquendo, 14, disappeared from his Queens, New York school around noon on October 4
- According to a teachers' union memo, there were several security features lacking at the brand-new Riverview School that day
- On the day that Avonte walked out a side-door, school administrators did not have access to security camera footage
- Panic bars on the doors, additional cameras and windows on the doors could have also prevented Avonte's disappearance
- Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced Monday that the NYPD would be 'scaling down' their search for the boy this week
PUBLISHED: 18:08 EST, 24 October 2013 | UPDATED: 05:35 EST, 25 October 2013
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For twenty days now, the New York City Police have been searching for Avonte Oquendo, the 14-year-old autistic boy who disappeared from his Long Island City school.
According to a teachers' union memo obtained by Capital New York, none of the administrators at the brand-new Riverview School had passwords to access the security camera feeds on October 4, the day Avonte went missing.
In response to the memo, schools chancellor Dennis Walcott said through a spokesman that the education department's 'Special Commissioner for Investigations is investigating what happened, and we intend to take a serious look at his findings'.
Administrators at the brand-new Riverview School in Long Island City, didn't yet have access to security camera feeds the day 14-year-old autistic boy Avonte Oquendo went missing, according to a union memo
Missing: Avonte Oquendo is mute and autistic. He vanished October 4 from his Long Island City school in Queens, New York. Subway workers fanned out Saturday in search of the boy, who is fond of trains and has been fond wandering the tunnels before
Security footage of his escape was eventually acessed and aired on local television stations. It shows Avonte running down the hall and exiting the building through a side door.
But according to the memo written on October 9, school security guards wouldn't have even seen Avonte leaving the building since they didn't have monitors to watch the security camera feeds.
Runaway: CCTV footage shows Avonte Oquendo running through the corridors of his school towards the entrance
Escape: Once he got outside, Avonte Oquendo ran down the street out of sight and hasn't been seen since
Apparently there was 'no monitor at the front desk' and a 'console for [the] school security agent is also on order as well'.
Without access to that security footage, school officials originally believed Avonte 'ran back up another staircase' and remained in the building
So an hour after he went missing, they called Avonte's mother and had her come in and try and coax him out of hiding by talking over the PA system.
Already gone: An hour after they noticed Avonte was missing, school officials called his mother to come in and try to coax him out of hiding - believing he was somewhere in the school
But as security footage would later reveal, he was long gone.
In addition to the surveillance footage problems, there were other security aspects that could have prevented Avonte's disappearance had they been installed in the school that day.
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The memo mentions that the school informed employees after Avonte's disappearance that they would be installing temporary panic bars on the doorways to be replaced by permanent bars later.
Hopeful: Vanessa Fontaine, left, Avonte's mother, arrives to a vigil October 11 in Queens. According to the union memo published today, panic bars could have alerted the school of Avonte's disappearance had they been in place on October 4
Architecture firm Gran Kriegel Associates is also being brought in to look into other features to prevent future escapes such as additional cameras and windows on doors.
A spokesman for the department of education declined to comment to Capital about the various security features that could have prevented Avonte's disappearance.
Police commissioner Ray Kelly announced on Monday that the NYPD might be 'scaling down' the search for Avonte this week.
Praying: A vigil was held for Avonte on October 12. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced earlier this week that the NYPD would be scaling down it's search for the 14-year-old
Several promising leads have failed to produce any results in the case, keeping both hope and disappointment very much alive.
On October 13, the reward for Avonte's return had reached $70,000.
Avonte was reportedly spotted at a school festival in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn on October 12 around 5:30pm, reports the Daily Dot.
‘The kid in reference caused a bit of a stir as he stood very close [to the DJ],’ wrote the children’s entertainment company FuziPop on their Facebook page, ‘trying to touch the DJ equipment multiple times.’
Leads? Avonte may have been sighted at a gathering in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn on October 11
Avonte cannot care for himself and his family says he may appear soiled and has potentially stopped responding to his own name
Avonte’s brother Danny has helped make the online search go viral in the days since his disappearance. Thousands of followers have been added to Danny’s social media accounts and a Facebook page called Missing Avonte Oquendo has become a virtual hub for the search.
Facebook followers have helped get the flier widely dispersed and have even gotten it translated into Chinese and Portuguese.
‘Avonte requires 24 hour supervision. He is 14 in body, but he has the mind of a very young child,’ reads the Facebook page. ‘Avonte has been alone for 10 days. He needs your help. He may appear dirty, he will have gone to the bathroom on himself, he may seem disoriented and no long answer to his name.’
On October 12, family and friends organized a vigil Saturday and search parties have fanned out from their headquarters in Queens across the city to help bring Avonte home.
'We get leads throughout the day, and whenever we get them, we try to take them seriously,' said Danny Oquendo. 'We call police detectives, then volunteers who go to that area.'
Search continues: The search operations continued October 13 from their headquarters near Avonte's school in Queens and family remained hopeful Avonte would be found
The following morning, the search seemed to be focused in an area of Queens north of where Avonte first disappeared.
‘We need more volunteers to canvas the Ditmars area with a focus around 19th and 20th Ave between 37th Street and 81st street,’ Danny urged on his Twitter account @KingDetrick. ‘Go in groups!’
Avonte was last seen wearing black jeans, black sneakers, and a grey striped shirt. He is 5-foot-3 and weighs 125 pounds. Anyone with information is urged to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers line at 800-577-TIPS.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ccess-surveillance-footage.html#ixzz2iypNCmIq
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