A six-year-old boy identified as Dominick Krankall has been hospitalized with severe burns to his face and legs after he was intentionally lit on fire by another child, who poured gasoline on a tennis ball, lit the ball on fire and threw it at the child’s face.
Gatekeepers News reports that Dominick survived the vicious attack but is suffering from severe second-and-third degree burns to his face and legs.
“My six-year-old brother could’ve died. The kid covered a ball in gasoline, lit it on fire and threw it at him. All in a matter of seconds,” wrote the victim’s sister, Kayla Deegan, on a GoFundMe page.
“He’s going to be scarred for life mentally and physically.”
The incident happened on Sunday when Dominick was playing in the backyard of his family’s home located on Louisiana Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with a group of children, who are reportedly tenants in the home.
According to Deegan, the eight-year-old neighbor entered a shed on the property and somehow got hold of gasoline and lighters and called Dominick over.
She said after the bully threw the fireball, then ‘ran away and watched him [Dominick] burn,’ NBC News reported.
The Bridgeport Office of Emergency Management said in a statement that preliminary reports indicated that up to four unattended children were seen playing with gasoline and lighting objects on fire, NBC reported.
Family members said this is not the first time Dominick has been beaten up by the neighbour, and a previous incident also put him in the hospital.
“He has a history of bullying, and he has gotten away with too much. The mother thinks he is innocent. The family thinks it’s a joke,” Deegan wrote.
“Even though Dominick can’t talk because he’s in a lot of pain and all swollen, he said to my mom, ‘Please don’t take me back there’.”
“This is extremely unfair and shouldn’t ever happen to ANY CHILD!!! We need justice for our little Dominick,” she added, using the hashtag ‘justicefordominick.’
As of Tuesday evening, no charges have yet been filed against the 8-year-old suspect, NBC New York reported.
“It’s heartbreaking, it’s sickening to know the family. There’s nothing being done about this,” Deegan told the news station. “This needs to be seen everywhere so everyone knows Dom’s story and what he had to go through, and the extent it went to for someone to hopefully do something.”
The family is asking for donations that will go toward Dominick’s hospital bills and a new home and as of Wednesday afternoon, their GoFundMe has raked in over $390,000 donations, surpassing their initial goal of $50,000.
