Family pushes for new alert notification after son with Down syndrome found in locked Metro corridor

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A Maryland man who is nonverbal and has Down syndrome was found safe in a locked Metro station corridor over the weekend after being missing for six days. His father says he wants to make sure what happened to his son doesn't happen to anyone else.

Rashawn Williams went missing on Oct. 20 from a Silver Spring hotel where he and his aides were staying after his group home was damaged by fire. He became separated from his caregivers who reported that he boarded a Metrobus headed for Fort Totten.

Family and law enforcement agencies began searching for Williams. It wasn't until early the following week that he was spotted on Metro surveillance images walking through the Glenmont station.

READ MORE: Missing Maryland man with Down syndrome found 'safe and unharmed' at Glenmont Metro Station

Rashawn Williams

On Oct. 26, an officer who was searching for Williams at the station checked an emergency exit and found the 31-year-old safe. FOX 5's Bob Barnard says it is believed that Williams entered the emergency exit corridor and walked down the hallway into a small office when a door he entered that locked behind him.

Inside that room, Williams passed through a second door that locked after he entered, Barnard said. That is where he remained until he was found. Barnard said Williams did not use the interior stairs that led out of the room he was in.

Rashawn's father, Jimmy Hall, says he wants Maryland to consider adding a third alert notification that could be used for people with special needs who are critically missing and who are nonverbal. "He was denied for both alerts. a Silver Alert and an Amber Alert, due to age and no vehicle present," Hall said.

Rashawn Williams

"Please reconsider and try to come up with a different type of system to where there is a notification for individuals in situations like this because we were fortunate enough to receive Rashawn back safe and sound," Hall continued. "The next time it could be much, much worse. And an alert could be helpful to that family of individuals that's lost."

"He probably really understood everything that was going on around him," said Margot Rhondeau with the National Down Syndrome Society. "He probably understood what people were saying to him, but he didn't have the ability to say I need help. And what's really, really heartbreaking is that doesn't mean he doesn't have the feelings of 'I need help.' It doesn't mean he's not scared. That's doesn't mean he doesn't want help. It just means he verbally can't say, 'I need help.' And if he tried to communicate that in ways to people, they might not of understood what he was saying."