‘My son was lit on fire’: Connecticut boy burned in bullying attack, mom says
Police are investigating after a 6-year-old boy was reportedly left badly burned after his mom says a bully soaked a ball in gasoline, lit it on fire and hurled it at him in Connecticut.
“My son was lit on fire,” Maria Rua wrote on Facebook.
The attack sent Dominick to a nearby burn unit where he is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his face and legs after getting struck with the fireball on Sunday in Bridgeport, NBC New York reported.
The Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit is investigating the incident alongside the Bridgeport Fire Marshal’s Office, a state police spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement.
Rua said that an 8-year-old neighbor, who has bullied her children before, threw the flaming ball at Dominick, according to her Facebook post.
Several children were playing with gasoline and setting items on fire outside Rua’s home the day of the incident, according to a police report, Fox 61 reported.
“As soon as (Dominick) walked down the stairs, the bully called his name and lured him over around the corner, and in a matter of seconds he came back around the corner screaming, saying ‘Mommy, they lit me on fire,’” his sister, Kayla Deegan, told NBC New York.
Meanwhile, Deegan created a GoFundMe to raise money for her brother’s “hospital bills and a new home because it is not safe here,” she wrote, adding that Dominick “has been bullied for a while by the tenants downstairs.”
In an update, Deegan posted that Dominick “is doing a little better.”
“Yesterday was the first time he actually was able to get a few bites of food past his extremely swollen lips and into his mouth. He could only handle a few bites, but that is some good news.”
As Dominick recovers, his father, Aaron Krankall, tearfully told News 12 that he’s “thankful” his son doesn’t need surgery.
“Yesterday, he looked in the mirror and said, ‘Mommy why do I look like this?’ That just kills me. That breaks my heart. This wasn’t his choice,” Rua said.
Tribune News Service
