Shark bites boy, 9, on the shoulder in Miami Beach; child was body-surfing

As if there wasn’t enough chaos and mayhem caused by spring break in Miami Beach.

A young boy visiting from Minnesota was attacked by a shark over the weekend, a Miami Beach Fire Department spokesperson confirmed to the Miami Herald on Monday.

Kristine Weiskopf and her son Jay, 9, were at the beach around 1 p.m. Sunday in between First and Third Streets.

The child was bodysurfing in the shallows about 5 feet off the shore when the attack occurred. The fish took a large chunk out of the boy’s shoulder, Local 10 first reported.

“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,” Weiskopf told the TV station.

Miami Beach lifeguard Lucas Bocanegra told the Herald Monday that the working theory was the shark in question was a blacktip, one of many that travel down south from Virginia for migratory reasons.

Bocanegra admitted it’s late in the season to see blacktips, however, and he wasn’t exactly sure of the species involved in Sunday’s incident.

Bocanegra said witnesses on the beach saw the shark swimming and then get pushed along toward the boy by a strong wave. The fish then swam off.

A patrol boat was sent out around the area, he added, but nothing else was spotted in the murky water.

The beach was not closed and no purple flags, which warn of dangerous marine wildlife, were set up.

As for Jay, he underwent a skin graft at Jackson Memorial and doctors were able to save his arm, Bocanegra said.

His mother shared her relief Monday morning on Facebook to her friends.

“I know taking a vacation is a risk, but I had no idea this was the risk we were taking,” wrote the tourist of her son. “He’s okay. Traumatized but okay and we thank God for that.”

In October, a 31-yearold man was hospitalized after a blacktip shark bit him on the leg in South Beach.