A shark savagely bit a nine-year-old boy as his horrified parents watched on helplessly.
Jay Weiskopf was swimming off Miami Beach with his parents on Sunday when the aquatic apex predator approached him.
Mum Kristine realised her son was injured when she helped pull him up out of the water.
She then rushed Jay to hospital after spotting the wound on his shoulder.
Kristine, from Missensota, told local10.com they were in the water only for a few minutes before the attack took place.
“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," she said.
When she pulled him up, Kristine noticed what she said was a chunk of skin missing from the boy’s shoulder.
“He just said, ‘Ow,’ and I looked down and there was about a 4-foot gray shark just kinda swimming away, so I just scooped him up and ran him up the beach,” Kristine said.
The family was met by Miami Beach Fire Rescue on the sand.
Jay was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital and rushed in to surgery to close his wound.
His father Ren expressed how much he loved his son and how the family was in shock, before thanking god that Jay is still alive.
“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," he added.
The parents said that doctors were worried about the possibility of infection and the long term effects that the injuries could have on Jay’s mobility.
The medics added that Jay's prognosis was good due to his young age.
Kristine added that her son now just really wants to go home.
