Jeremy Brilliant/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - The search continues for a 15-year-old exchange student from Afghanistan who went missing from downtown Thursday night.
Mohhamed Karim Azizi was in Indianapolis attending the FFA convention with a group from Ohio.
As thousands of FFA members attending the national convention downtown prepared to go home, they were preoccupied by the disappearance of Mohhamed Karim Azizi. The 15-year-old Afghan exchange student was attending the convention with a group from Ohio even though he is not a member of FFA.
"There's been a lot of signs about - contact somebody if you see him or hear where he is or anything like that," said Abbey Nickel, an Ohio FFA member who added that people are "very concerned."
Metro Police spent Thursday night and early Friday morning looking for the Afghan national who stopped using his cell phone around 8:00 pm Thursday and hadn't posted anything on his Facebook page.
Police believe he may have tried to run away. They say he complained to friends about being homesick.
"He's only been in the United States for two months so I can imagine he's missing his family back home so whether that played a part of it hopefully we'll find that out. Our main concern right now is his safety," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell, Metro Police.
Azizi was last seen on Monument Circle around 8:00 pm Thursday night. He was with a group of FFA members who got on their bus. About an hour later when they did a head count, he was gone."
FFA released this statement: "Obviously, our first thoughts are toward locating this young man, who is a visitor to Indianapolis and to FFA. We are contacting all our advisors and will continue to assist IMPD in any way we can."
Mayor Greg Ballard stopped by Downtown District Headquarters to check on the investigation firsthand.
"I just wanted to get an update on it and try to make sure everything is being handled well. A lot of people are working on it right now," said the mayor.
That includes people beyond Indianapolis. Aziz's information has been entered into a national database that would alert police if he tries to buy a bus, train or airplane ticket.
His host family traveled today to Indianapolis from the Cleveland area to help police in their investigation.
Azizi is approximately 5'4" and weighs 115 pounds. He is wearing a John Deere baseball cap, a black or dark leather coat with possibly a black hoodie underneath and blue jeans.
Azizi is not an FFA member, but was attending the convention. He was staying at the Marriott's Renaissance Indianapolis North Hotel in Carmel. Hotel management says they're cooperating with police in the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call IMPD dispatch at 327-3264.
