NOTE from Laura Hammons: We are seriously saddened by the accident that happened at McWhorter Park to the young man Shaun Herbert. We are praying for his family, his friends and the recovery of this fine young man. If you would like to assist in our Neighborhood Art Project we need the following items.

1. Water Bottles

2. Food Coloring

3. Blue Ribbons

Please call me at 972.285.1675 “Friends of McWhorter Park” will accept donations for Shawn and his family. You can submit the donations to First State Bank Mesquite on Military Parkway. Make checks out to Friends of McWhorter Park/Shaun Herbert. All donations will be given to Shaun’s family. We as a community should pull together during this time of crisis to help comfort his family, our community, and our young teens who are deeply saddened by this tragedy at our dear McWhorter Park.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A search and rescue mission Tuesday to locate Shaun Herbert, of Mesquite, has turned into a recovery mission, according to the Mesquite Fire Department.

Shaun, 14, a freshman at West Mesquite High School, was swept away by flood waters south of the Interstate 635 overpass at Bruton Road at about 1:42 p.m. Tuesday when he was reportedly playing in Mesquite Creek and was pulled in by fast-moving flood waters. His friend, Joel Wilson, 15, was able to swim to safety, but witnessed Shaun being swept away by the strong current and into a drainage pipe under I-635.

“At this time, we’re classifying this as a recovery operation,” said Lt. Jeff Miller, spokesman for the Mesquite Fire Department. “The weather has cleared up quite a bit and has helped with the search.”

The disappearance of Shaun renews safety questions for many friends and neighbors concerning recent construction along that area of Mesquite Creek, where three converging creeks have been paved up to drainage tunnels.

“It is not safe now,” said Wilma Lair, a 35-year resident of the Edgemont Park subdivision where Shaun’s family resides. “There are three creeks that all come together here. The water was just so swift.”

Laura Beth Hammons, a community activist for Edgemont Park, indicates for the past year she has addressed safety issues with the city in regards to the culvert in the area where Shaun was overtaken by flood waters.

“There’s a safety issue,” Hammons said. “There should be signs posted.”

Lair indicates in 35 years she cannot recall heavy rain causing the water to move so swift or rising as quickly as it did Tuesday.

“When I was a kid we would be down here Crawdad fishing,” said Kerri Cantrell, a mother of a small child. “They paved the creek and now it attracts more kids for skateboarding. It can’t be good.”

The search area for Shaun grew from about three-quarters of a mile to about a mile and a half from I-635 where Shaun was reportedly swept into the fast-moving current stretching to Belt Line Road.

While emergency personnel search Mesquite Creek for the body, neighbors and friends were beginning to gather near the command center at McWhorter Park.

“We are all very upset with anything that happens to any children in our neighborhood,” Hammons said. “Anything we can do as a community, we’ll do it.”

“My heart goes out to the family and we feel their grief,” Cantrell said. “I only have one child and I just don’t know what I would do if anything happened. This is Mesquite. Things like this don’t happen in Mesquite.”

The search for Shaun began at about 1:48 p.m. Tuesday. Emergency personnel called for air support in the search from the Department of Public Safety at about 6 p.m. Swift water rescue personnel was called in and today emergency personnel have called upon parks and recreation and public works staff to assist in the mission to find Shaun.

The swift water team from the Dallas Fire Department searched the tunnels under I-635, swimming in areas where they believed a body could be trapped.

“This is something that could take quite some time before we find this individual,” said David Martin, Dallas Fire Department special chief.

The search began with Mesquite fire and police in a joint effort with the Balch Springs Fire Department. A team of four search dogs were called upon to comb the creek to find Shaun.

“Their job is to find the victim more quickly,” Martin said. “There have been some occasions where the dogs do what we call showing interest. It is very windy, so that has an affect on the scent trail.”

The area along the creek east of I-635, which now encompasses all of the search area, heavy wooded, according to Martin.

“The brush is so think that our dog handlers called back and asked if we had machetes,” Martin said. “It is possible that we might not find the victim in the creekbed, but in the woods. A storm like we had brings a lot of debris downstream.”

“There is just so much debris we are dealing with on the other side of the culvert,” Miller said. “We’ve searched several hundred yards downstream.

“The search is ongoing. We’ll just keep going until we get it done. The chief (Mark Kerby) has talked to the family and they seem to be holding up OK. They are upset, obviously.”

The search area has doubled since midmorning Wednesday and according to Miller will continue around the clock until Shaun is found.

“It is frustrating,” Miller said. “We thought we would be able to find him by now.”

Martin indicates many times a recovery will take two or three days, though he was not prepared to term the mission a recovery project.

Current is no longer flowing in the upper portion of Mesquite Creek and has receded throughout the area. The water level has dropped more than two feet since the Tuesday flooding. Brush and debris continue to pose difficulties. Still, Mesquite fire officials are pledging to search until Shaun is located.

“Our job is to fix the problem,” Miller said. “That’s what we plan to do.”

Hammons says residents in the community are holding out hope that Shaun can be found unharmed.

“I’m always at the playground and I’m sure I have seen him around,” Hammons said. “It is so sad. My cousin and I were talking about how we were down there playing as kids and what could have happened to us.”

Hammons indicates a neighborhood art project is being planned in support of Shaun.