6-year-old Connecticut boy suffers major burns after bullies allegedly throw fireball at him

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (TCD) -- A 6-year-old boy was hospitalized suffering from second- and third-degree burns after kids he played with allegedly threw a fireball at him.

According to NBC Connecticut, Dominick Krankall was in the backyard of his apartment on Louisiana Avenue playing with other boys who lived in the building. Krankall’s sister Kayla Deegan told NBC Connecticut one of the boys allegedly went into a shed and "somehow gained access to some gasoline and lighters."

Deegan told NBC Connecticut the boy poured gasoline on a tennis ball, "took a lighter, lit it up, and just chucked it right at my brother’s face — and then ran away from him and watched him burn."

She said, "As soon as he 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.'"

Dominick’s father Aaron told the Connecticut Post the boy managed to roll on the ground to try to stop the flames, but his pants were reportedly "still smoking" and the skin on his face was "already peeling off."

Bridgeport Police reportedly noted there were four children who were allegedly seen playing "with gasoline and lighting objects on fire."

Laura Giacobbe, the mother of one of the boys and the landlord of the apartment building, told WABC-TV, "There was no bullying whatsoever involved, none."

Giacobbe instead said Dominick’s mother Maria Rua "neglected those children outside."

She reportedly asked WABC, "If your child is being bullied, would you leave your child out with somebody being bullied? That’s the question."

Rua, on the other hand, told WABC Dominick "has been bullied by this child for a year." The bully allegedly gave Dominick a concussion in March after pushing him to the ground, according to his family.

Officials and first responders from the city of Bridgeport paraded and stood outside the hospital Thursday in Dominick’s honor.

According to NBC Connecticut, Dominick is expected to make a full recovery.

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