A 9-year-old boy who was reported missing Tuesday evening after he did not return from his Englewood neighborhood elementary school was located Wednesday morning.
Michael Campbell was last seen at 3 p.m. when classes ended at Harvard Elementary School, 7525 S. Harvard Ave., according to Chicago police.
Michael’s mother reported him missing that night at 8:30 p.m. and spoke to reporters, pleading for him to return.
“Baby, please, please, please come home,” she said. He lives about a block away from school.
Michael’s father told reporters that school surveillance video showed the boy leaving school. His book bag was found in a dumpster in an alley across from his home, the family reportedly said.
The boy reportedly said “he didn’t come home last night when he went by his friend’s house because there was gunfire,” his father told reporters.
Police said Michael stayed the night at a friend’s house and was reunited with his family Wednesday morning.
“He asked the kid’s mother can they say, and they told them they could stay,” the father said. “He fell asleep after they played video games,” the father told reporters. Another relative, Allison Campbell, Michael’s aunt, told reporters the house where the boy stayed didn’t have a phone so he couldn’t call home.
Michael’s father said at the impromptu press conference Wednesday morning that he wanted to thank God, the media, and the Chicago Police Department for leading the search for his son. “They were here. This morning, they came in and they didn’t give up. They worked just as hard as I worked [to find Michael], I want to thank them.”
