A teenager tried to save his 6-year-old brother after Hurricane Ian. They both drowned in a flooded canal.
Six-year-old Tahjir Burrowes wandered out of his Florida home on Oct. 5, wearing only a diaper and a T-shirt, and headed straight for a hurricane-flooded canal.
Six-year-old Tahjir Burrowes wandered out of his Florida home on Oct. 5, wearing only a diaper and a T-shirt, and headed straight for a hurricane-flooded canal.
He had the severest form of autism and was drawn to water, his mother said. The storm had bulldozed the fence around their property, giving the boy, who was nonverbal, the brief opportunity he needed to escape undetected.
His 17-year-old brother, Tahjon, knew something was wrong as soon as he got out of the bathroom and could not find his little brother anywhere.
Tahjir Burrowes, shown last month.Courtesy Lachera BurrowesHe pounded on his mother’s door. “Mom, mom, mom! Tahjir got out of the house!” he shouted, before flying out of the door.
Their mother, Lachera Burrowes, immediately jumped in her car and drove to the canal near their Lehigh home.
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