A 9-year-old boy was mauled by a shark in waist-high water at a Miami beach.
Jay Weiskopf from Minnesota was on a vacation in Miami with his parents, Ren and Kristine Weiskopf, when a shark suddenly attacked him.
He was left in need of more than 20 stitches to close the large wound on his shoulder.
His mother Kristine told Daily Mail: “I want to prevent this from happening to another person. We were in 2 feet of water. It’s just nuts. I never, ever expected this could happen in waist-high water.”
She said that they were only in the water for a few minutes when Jay got attacked by the shark.
In an interview with Local 10 News, Kristine said: “I was holding his hand the whole time and he was kind of body surfing a little bit and he had fallen on his stomach.”
“When I pulled him up, I noticed there was just a big chunk of skin missing from his shoulder,” Kristine continued.
“He just said “ow” and I looked down and there was about a 4-foot grey shark just kinda swimming away, so I just scooped him up and ran him up the beach.”
The family was met by the Miami Beach Fire Rescue and they rushed Jay to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The young boy was said to be traumatized but now doing ‘okay,’ his mother wrote on Facebook.
“He just wants to go home and it’s really said because we had so much fun planned,” she said.
Jay’s father, Ren, also said: “I just love him so much. He’s such a great kid and we’re still in shock, but thankful. We thank God that he didn’t take his life. That he’s gonna be OK.
“What I don’t like right now is that the beach is still open, and kids are still down there playing, and they are in the same spot where my son just got attacked. I don’t know if it’s just because of spring break or whatever, but the beach should be closed,” Ren added.
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