Gabriel Orellano Drowned Shortly After Falling into Sea

News Five has obtained new surveillance footage showing the final moments before six-year-old autistic student Gabriel Orellano tragically drowned in the hangar area. The death of this Stella Maris student has sent shockwaves across the country. We’ve heard from his relatives and an advocate for children with autism. The Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca, has also provided an update on the ministry’s investigation. But before we dive into that, we bring you these new videos from surveillance cameras near the hangar. The footage shows people nearby as Gabriel climbed onto the seawall and entered the water. It also captures the moment a group of people worked to recover his lifeless body and one man’s attempt to perform CPR. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the details.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

On Tuesday night, News Five shared surveillance videos that traced the heartbreaking journey of six-year-old Gabriel Orellano, an autistic student. The footage shows Gabriel’s path from in front of Puma Gas Station to the sidewalk near Midtown Restaurant. He had left his school, Stella Maris, undetected on Monday. Several cameras captured his movements, starting at 12:43 p.m. on the busy Freetown Road and continuing until 1 p.m. on Princess Margaret Drive.

 

With the help of Gabriel’s family, News Five obtained footage showing the moments he arrived at the hangar area and the tragic scene when his lifeless body was pulled from the sea just minutes later. We warn viewers that the following video may be disturbing. At 1:09 p.m., Gabriel turned off Princess Margaret Drive onto St. Edwards Street, heading towards the sea. He went from running to walking as he got closer to the water. Another camera angle captured him walking towards the seawall in the hangar area. Gabriel slowed down as he approached the end of the road, then climbed onto the seawall and disappeared behind a parked bus.

 

Five minutes later, two individuals exited their vehicle and walked towards the bus. The woman in the video then made a phone call. At 1:16 p.m., six minutes after Gabriel was last seen behind the bus, his lifeless body was spotted floating in the sea. The same two individuals were visibly distressed by what they saw. By 1:19 p.m., a group of six people were at the scene, working to recover Gabriel’s body. He was pulled from the water eight minutes after he was last seen on camera. Despite efforts to perform CPR, he could not be resuscitated. Gabriel’s family told News Five that seeing his final moments has given them some closure. However, there are still many questions about how the autistic child managed to leave a school dedicated to special needs children undetected and why no one intervened to help him, even though he was running along busy streets for nearly forty minutes. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.