Hopkins Police Department is seeking the public’s help in finding a missing 4-year-old boy.

An emergency alert was sent out to people in the Hopkins area on Sunday saying Waeys Ali Mohamed, a nonverbal autistic boy, is missing.

“It will get harder when the sun goes down. That’s where we’re trying to exhaust every effort that we can right now,” Capt. Craig Kreiling, Hopkins Police Department, said.

Authorities said the child was last seen around 7:30 Sunday morning near the Chorus apartments off 2^nd Street Northeast in Hopkins.

Investigators captured a photo from the apartment’s video footage where he wandered off.

The little boy is nonverbal and autistic, around 3.5′ tall and weighs around 40 pounds. Police say he has short curly hair and is wearing blue pajama pants with no shirt or shoes.

“If anybody living in this area can check their property for that would be greatly appreciated. We’d very much like to reunite him with his family and bring him home,” Kreiling said.

Multiple fire and police departments helped with the search including K-9 and rescue units.

The department also launched a drone.

A big focus for the search and rescue is the Minnehaha Creek, which is steps away from where the 4-year-old was last seen.

The Hopkins police captain says the swift current in the water is concerning.

Crews searched it several times, but did not find the child.

Community members from Hopkins and across the metro launched their own search crews hoping to bring the little boy back to his family.

“As humans, that’s how we’re wired. You don’t ask you know why — it’s just you do it,”

There were concerns from the community about not having an organized volunteer search on Sunday.

The police captain said they felt the multiple agencies could cover everything themselves with a great deal of coordination, but he explained if the search continues into Monday, they will ask the public for help.

Authorities are asking residents from Highway 169 to Highway 100 from Highway 7 down to Excelsior Boulevard.

If you do spot the toddler, police said dial 911, but do not approach him because they don’t want him to run off.