A Special Olympics athlete from the Ivory Coast was found safe Monday in Inglewood after disappearing from Los Angeles International Airport.
The athlete was identified by police as 15-year-old table-tennis player Shion Isimel, although he is listed in the Special Olympics program as Ange Ismael Kone. He had been last seen on surveillance video at 5:57 a.m. at the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and 96th Street, according to Airport Police Officer Rob Pedregon.
At about 3:40 p.m., a resident spotted the French-speaking, autistic teen sleeping on a lawn in the 600 block of East Hyde Park Boulevard in Inglewood, Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Dennis Kato said. The athlete was wearing the colorful, distinctive Special Olympics lanyard around his neck, Kato said, noting that he is “in very good health and spirits.”
The teen was reunited with a member of the Ivory Coast delegation who remained in Los Angeles while the search was continuing.
Isimel vanished hours after a 44-year-old Special Olympics athlete from Albania was found safe in Hayward, in the San Francisco Bay area, after disappearing Sunday from USC.
— City News Service