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Family grieves after boy drowns in Leisure City canal

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A boy drowned on Saturday in Miami-Dade County’s Leisure City neighborhood, just south of the Naranja area.

A friend of the grieving family said the victim was a 4-year-old boy with special needs who left his home and walked around a fence to get to the canal where he drowned.

According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, divers retrieved the boy’s body from the canal in the area of Southwest 280 Terrace and Southwest 141st Avenue.

“It appears, in a fraction of a second that child was able to exit the front door of the residence,” said Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the police department.

The canal runs through a residential community, west of the Homestead Air Reserve Park. Detectives are investigating the drowning. The Medical Examiner’s Office took the boy’s body in a van.

“I can’t stress it enough, we live around bodies of water, to teach our children the skillsets of swimming,” Zabaleta said.

Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Wilson Louis contributed to this report.

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About the Authors
Bridgette Matter headshot

Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. Before moving to South Florida, she began her career in South Bend, Indiana and spent six years in Jacksonville as a reporter and weekend anchor.

Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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