April 27 (UPI) — A 6-year-old Connecticut boy remains hospitalized after a flaming, gasoline-soaked tennis ball was thrown at his face in what his family described as a bullying attack, authorities said.
Dominick Krankall was playing with other neighborhood children in his family’s back yard at their home in Bridgeport Sunday afternoon at the time of the attack.
The Bridgeport Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said in a joint statement that up to four children, with no adults in the vicinity, were playing with gas and lighting objects on fire, preliminary reports showed.
Dominick’s sister told authorities that an 8-year-old neighbor lured her brother around the corner by calling the child’s name.
“In a matter of seconds, he came back around the corner screaming, saying, ‘Mommy, they lit me on fire,'” Kayla Deegan said in an interview with NBC New York.
Dominick suffered second- and third-degree burns on his leg and face, his mother, Maria Rua, told ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
He is expected to recover from his injuries.
Rua said her child had been the victim of the person who allegedly threw the lit tennis ball for a year.
