A 10-year-old boy on vacation with his family in the Florida Keys was attacked by a shark on Saturday while snorkeling at Looe Key, state wildlife police confirmed Monday.
Jameson Reeder Jr. was airlifted by helicopter to a Miami-Dade hospital, where doctors amputated his leg just below the knee “to save his life as it was not operable from the damage the shark had caused,” 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, Yeshua/Jesus!!”
The family believes an eight-foot bull shark bit the boy’s leg. As he screamed for help, Jameson clung to a pool noodle and his father drove the boat over to rescue him, the post said.
“The helicopter lifted off less than an hour from the time of the incident and had Jameson Jr. and his mom,” Joshua Reeder said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state agency tasked with patrolling the waters, did not release information or details about the shark bite, but did confirm it when contacted by FLKeysNews.com/Miami Herald.
Meanwhile, the reports of the attack on the boy circulated among people across the Lower Keys, across several Facebook posts and a GoFundMe account set up by a friend of the family.
The boy’s family couldn’t be immediately reached.
Jason Rafter, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, confirmed the shark attack Monday morning but said he would release details only after first talking with the boy’s father.
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