Boy's First Beach Trip Ends in 'Horror Film Gore'

Family says 9-year-old Jay Weiskopf was attacked by shark off Miami Beach
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 24, 2021 11:37 AM CDT
Boy's First Beach Trip Ends in 'Horror Film Gore'
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/jamenpercy)

"A shark tried to eat me at the ocean." That's 9-year-old Jay Weiskopf's description of what happened over the weekend during a family vacation in South Florida. Fox News reports that Jay, who has autism, was swimming in shallow water on the Miami Beach shoreline when his family says he was attacked by a shark. Per WSVN, the Minnesotans were waiting Sunday for their hotel room to be made available, so they decided to check out a local beach near Second Street. Kristine Weiskopf, Jay's mom, tells the outlet they'd only been in the 30-inch-deep water for about 10 minutes when "a wave came ... and when [Jay] stood up, he just said, 'Ow,' and there was just a chunk missing from his shoulder." Weiskopf says she saw a shark, which "wasn't very big," swim by.

The shark may not have been large, but Weiskopf described the scene after the attack as "horror film gore." She scooped up her son and brought him to shore, where beachgoers called 911. Paramedics whisked Jay to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery that left him with 120 stitches; the New York Post has pics. Jay's mother says it was her son's first trip ever to the beach. His father, meanwhile, thinks the beach should be shut down. "What I don't like right now is that the beach is still open, and kids are still down there playing," Ren Weiskopf tells WPLG, which notes that local officials haven't confirmed it was a shark that attacked Jay—they're calling it an "unidentified fish" for now. Jay's feelings on all of this? "No beach, and no ocean," he says, per Fox. (More shark attack stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X