Authorities have discovered a body near St. Pete Beach believed to be that of the 9-year-old boy who went missing in the surf on Saturday.
Recovery efforts continued through Sunday night and into Monday morning.
At 8:30 a.m. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office marine units and dive team members located a child’s body on the north tip of Shell Key Preserve.
Cameron Bullard was playing in knee-deep water Saturday afternoon when a wave knocked him down. Officials said a current pulled the boy from the shore.
Marine units and dive team members had been searching the waters adjacent to St. Pete Beach since Saturday.
A bystander tried to rescue him but was unsuccessful and saw Cameron, who was not able to swim, go under, said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
Crews from the sheriff's office, Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Eckerd College Search and Research searched for Cameron into the night Saturday and picked up again early Sunday.
Around 12:40 p.m. Sunday, Gualtieri said the operation had transitioned "from a search and rescue mission to a recovery mission."
The boy's family held out hope through Sunday that he would be found.
Bullard was at the beach with his siblings and uncle and aunt, Glenn and Wojay Robinson, while his mom, Krystal Naar, was at work. The children were playing in knee-deep water when the wave knocked them over.
Officials said the children were being properly supervised.
Cameron was a student at Gulf Beaches Elementary School, a magnet school for technology, and a family member said he was an honor roll student. Naar, a single mother who was raising seven children, said Cameron loved sports, science and church and that he was "just a very special child."
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