By Liz Farmer
The Dallas Morning News
KERRVILLE, Texas — A juvenile was taken into custody for allegedly setting a 10-year-old boy on fire Sunday, the Kerrville Fire Marshal said Wednesday night.
The severely burned boy, Kadyen Culp, was transported to a hospital after the incident and was later put into an induced coma, his mother, Tristyn Hatchett, told the San Antonio Express-News. The unidentified juvenile accused of arson is “responsible for causing the victim’s severe burns,” the fire marshal said in a statement obtained by News4SanAntonio.com.
Relatives said Kayden was regularly bullied, possibly because of a speech disorder, hearing impairment and behavioral issues, The Express-News reports. They said he was playing with some children Sunday when he was lit on fire.
Few other details have been released from officials, but Kayden’s mother said a relative of one of the children he was with Sunday called to say one boy doused him in gasoline and another set him alight, the San Antonio paper reports.
“The other boys who were there have been telling kids at school that it was not an accident, that it was intentional,” she said.
Kayden, who’s burned over 20 percent of his body, took a turn for the worse Wednesday as his organs started to fail, the family told News4SanAntonio.com.
Kayden, an autistic 10 yr old in Kerrville was attacked, doused in gas, set on fire. You can help his family here: https://t.co/f9roVBLyeb
— Exorcising Emily (@exorcisingemily) October 6, 2016
Kayden Culp pictures,10,suffering horrific burns while playing in a park https://t.co/kN6jlqTuXj pic.twitter.com/y1J0G7LsxJ
— infowe (@infowe) October 6, 2016