The 13-year-old boy who lost his right hand after he said another child tossed him a lit firework is being soothed by "a flood of forgiveness" from family and friends after admitting that his story wasn't true — and that he actually lit the firework himself.
Javonte McNair, a seventh-grader at Sunrise Middle School, admitted to police Friday the July 8 injury happened when he leaned over the handlebars of his bicycle to light an unexploded mortar that two other boys had found.
Javonte told Fort Lauderdale police detectives "he was scared to tell the truth because people would be mad at him for what happened," family friend Troy McHatton wrote on a GoFundMe website on which more than $20,000 has been pledged to help cover the boy's medical expenses.