Heartbreaking photos showed a 6-year-old Connecticut boy covered in burns after family members said he was set on fire in a horrific bullying attack.
6-year-old Dominick Krankall was playing in the backyard of his family’s home Sunday afternoon when a “bully” lured him over around the corner, according to a report from NBC New York.
Police said, “up to four unattended children were seen playing with gasoline and lighting objects on fire” earlier that day.
“My son has been bullied by this child for a year,” Dominick’s mother, Maria Rua said. “That day, they purposefully threw a gasoline-saturated ball that they lit on fire at my son’s face.”
Maria said the bully even called Dominick’s name so he would turn around.
“They threw it at Dominick and left him outside alone to die,” Rua said. “I heard him screaming: ‘Mommy help me! They set me on fire!’”
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Dominick was admitted to the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital with second and third-degree burns to his face and leg, his mother said.
“His face is about twice the size it normally is,” Rua said. “He’s swollen with blisters. You can’t even see his beautiful eyes anymore.”
She said Dominick will be in the hospital for a few more days.
“Yesterday was the first time [Dominick] actually was able to get a few bites of food past his extremely swollen lips and into his mouth,” Rua said in an update posted to the child’s GoFundMe page. “He could only handle a few bites, but that is some good news.”
Rua called her son “the bravest 6-year-old” she’s ever known.
“For what he’s going through, watching him have to get those bandages off and his face scraped is painful for him and it’s painful for me to watch that, and it’s not fair to him.”
Rua said her son should make a full recovery and have minimal scarring.
“The incident is currently still under investigation as to the exact cause of the burn injuries by the Bridgeport Police, Bridgeport Fire and State Fire Investigation Teams,” a statement from Bridgeport police said.
No further information was immediately available.
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