A Massachusetts mum has shared a photo taken of her three-year-old son playing in the water minutes before an alligator took Lane Graves near a Disney Resort.
Jennifer Venditti Roye, 41, told People she shared the photo to stop Lane’s parents from being shamed online.
‘There is a time to be critical when parents are doing drugs and their children get hurt,’ said Venditti Roye, who has three children.
‘But this is just not the time. It’s heartbreaking.’
Adding, ‘It could have been [my son]. We had been there every night. What a tragedy.’
The photo shows Venditti Roye’s son, Channing, standing at the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon. ‘I took these pics at the exact spot this happened between 8 & 8.30pm,’ Venditti Roye wrote on Facebook. Lane was taken by the alligator around 9.30p.m.
‘Not at all did that cross my mind that there would be alligators in that area,’ Venditti Roye said.
‘There were tons of families just roasting marshmallows. The Grand Floridian had provided the activity for kids, right there on the beach.’
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