The Daytona Beach community is searching for answers after two young boys were found dead in a pond near their apartment complex over the weekend.

Kashh, 3, and Elijah, 5, were reported missing Saturday before their bodies were discovered by a dive team hours later. Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said investigators believe the deaths were accidental and that there is no indication of foul play.

“This is your greatest nightmare — to lose both of your children in that fashion,” Young said.

According to Young, the boys’ single mother fed the children Saturday afternoon before lying down for a brief nap. When she woke up, both boys — along with the family dog — had slipped out of the apartment.

“She woke up approximately 15 minutes later, and the kids, as well as the family dog, had gotten out of the apartment,” Young said. “She does have a child safety lock on the door, so apparently, they figured out how to navigate that child safety lock, and they exited the apartment.”

Young said Elijah was autistic, and noted that many children with autism are drawn to water. Surveillance video obtained by police shows the two boys running near the pond before entering the water. Their mother is seen on the video coming outside moments later.

“She was trying to do her due diligence to see if she could locate the children before calling 911,” Young said. “But by then, they were already, based on what we can see now on the surveillance video, they were already submerged in the water.”

Neighbors say the loss has devastated the community and are calling on the apartment complex to install fencing or other safety measures to protect children who live there.

“The ponds and lakes in Florida are not childproof, and there’s some parental responsibility,” said Steve Miller, a neighborhood watch member. “But kids are going to be kids, and they kind of get out of places all the time, and they get in places all the time that we don’t want them to. So we have to look out for our most vulnerable individuals in our community.”

While Young believes the deaths were accidental, he said the question of whether the mother will face criminal charges remains unanswered. Young said the department has turned its entire case over to the State Attorney’s Office, which has the authority to make that determination. As of publication, no charges have been filed.