A 10-year-old boy vacationing with his family in the Florida Keys was attacked by a shark on Saturday while snorkeling off Looe Key, the state wildlife police confirmed Monday.
Jameson Reeder Jr. was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Miami-Dade, where doctors amputated his leg just below the knee “to save his life because it was inoperable due to the damage caused by the shark,” his uncle Joshua Reeder posted on Facebook .
“They said the shark made the decision for him,” Reeder posted on his Facebook page on Sunday. “But his life was spared. Thank you, Jeshua/Jesus!!”
The family believes a six-foot bull shark has bitten the boy’s leg. While screaming for help, Jameson clung to a pool noodle and his father drove over the boat to rescue him, the post said.
“The helicopter took off less than an hour after the incident and had Jameson Jr. and his mother,” Joshua Reeder said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state agency charged with patrolling the waters, did not release any information or details about the shark bite, but did confirm it when FLKeysNews.com/Miami Herald contacted them.
Meanwhile, reports of the attack on the boy circulated among people in the Lower Keys, via various Facebook posts and a GoFundMe account set up by a family friend.
The boy’s family could not be reached immediately.
Jason Rafter, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, confirmed the shark attack Monday morning but said he would not release details until he spoke with the boy’s father first.
This evolving story will be updated.
