Authorities sought the public’s help Thursday to find Kayla Higgs, a 17-year-old girl who went missing from Long Beach.
Kayla Higgs is Black, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 115 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes, according to the California Highway Patrol, which issued an Ebony Alert on behalf of the Long Beach Police Department.
An Ebony Alert is a new type of emergency notification that went into effect on New Year’s Day in California under legislation authored by Sen Steven Bradford, D-Gardena.
The legislation allows law enforcement agencies to request the CHP to activate an alert for Black youth, including young women and girls between 12 to 25 years of age, who are reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, at risk, developmentally disabled, cognitively impaired, or who have been abducted.
Higgs was last seen about 2:30 a.m. Saturday at Broadway and West Florence Avenue in Los Angeles, according to the CHP. She was wearing a black puffer coat, yellow sweats, and had a teddy bear backpack. She has a tattoo of “Long Beach California” on her left ribcage.
Anyone seeing Higgs is urged to call 911.
