Police are searching for a missing 7-year-old girl from Lowell, Massachusetts, Sunday evening and asked for the public's help in finding her.
The missing girl, named whose name is Anna, was last seen near East Merrimack Street in Lowell's Belvidere neighborhood between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The search, by land, air and water, extended into the night Sunday.
"We're very concerned about the little girl," said one man helping aid in the search for the missing girl. "We have family, nobody wants this to happen to anyone."
"Please try to help us bring her home this evening," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference Sunday evening about 8:15 p.m., noting they were working harder before they lost daylight.
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Anna is about 4 feet, 7 inches and 70 lbs. and was last seen wearing black shorts, a white vest and a purple hair tie. Police say she has autism and is nonverbal. She may have been on a bicycle.
Lowell police say they will continue to search for Anna through the night, with regional support returning Monday morning to widen the search.
"What if that was our kid?" said another resident helping search for Anna. "That's how we feel, we just got to go out there and look for her like she's our baby."
Police asked that anyone who might know of Anna's whereabouts or who sees her on their property to call 911 or 978-937-3200.
"It is our hope and our great expectation that we are going to find Anna asleep somewhere or that she's gotten disoriented" and can't get home, Ryan said.
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There was expected to be a large law enforcement presence in Lowell during the search. The search included police dogs, drones, state police aircraft and a dive team in the Merrimack River, the Lowell Police Department said.
Officers went door to door Sunday while people who work at Anna's school joined in to help find her.
Authorities were collecting surveillance footage from people who live in the area, Ryan said, noting, "People have been wonderful this afternoon about helping us."
