Animal attack kills Kentucky 13-year-old boy, police say

A Knott County teen has been killed in an apparent animal attack, state police said on Wednesday.

Kentucky State Police detectives and emergency crews in Hazard responded about 6 p.m. Tuesday to a call about a possible animal attack on a child near Montgomery Creek Road in Emmalena, according to KSP Public Affairs Officer Jody Sims.

Troopers and first responders were led up a mountainside behind a home where they found a 13-year-old boy.

Knott County Coroner Corey Watson pronounced the boy dead on the scene from injuries Watson believed were from an animal attack.

An autopsy was performed on the boy at the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort on Thursday, where it was formally determined he was killed by an animal, but officials have not yet identified what type of animal is responsible.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 9:32 AM.