TATE COUNTY, Miss. — A 12-year-old boy died after sustaining severe burns over the weekend.
The incident happened when two boys were playing in a shed at a home on Arkabutla Dam Road in Tate County Sunday night, the Tate County Sheriff’s Department said.
The circumstances are still under investigation, but the child was so badly burned that he had to be taken to the hospital where he later died.
“All I’ll say, all I can say, is it was significant burns,” said Sheriff Brad Lance.
Online, family and friend’s have identified the victim as Gaines Coker of Tunica. Investigators say he’d come to Tate County to visit a friend, the same boy he was playing with when the fire broke out.
But detectives don’t yet feel comfortable saying how the fire might have started or if it could have been set by one of the boys.
The sheriff’s office does confirm no one’s been detained and no charges have been filed.
“We’re in the very early stages of trying to determine what happened,” Lance said. “Any case involving a child is different whether it be fire, and especially a death investigation. It’s tough on everybody involved.”
This is a developing story.
