KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 6 (UPI) -- Kansas City, Mo., police say they are investigating an assault on a 13-year-old boy who was sprayed with gasoline by classmates and burned.
The boy told officers two older boys assaulted him on the way home from school Feb. 28. When he reached the door to his house, one grabbed him in a bear hug while the other picked up a gas can, telling him "This is what you get."
A struggle ensued, and the gas can fell to the ground and spilled. One of the older boys allegedly lit the gas, which plumed into a fireball and burned the younger boy's face.
His hair was singed and his lip and nostrils were burned. The assailants were still at large.
The boy's father told The Kansas City Star Monday his son was doing well, but he refused to send him back to Kansas City's East High School, saying the older boys had followed him home from school.
"They'll have to kill me or lock me up before I send him back there," he said. He also mentioned moving out of the neighborhood.
Both the father's name and his son's name are being withheld because the son is a minor.
