Four-year-old boy assaulted at Ashcroft soccer tournament: RCMP

(via Brendan Kergin)

Mounties are investigating an assault on a four-year-old boy who was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Police say a woman reported to an off-duty RCMP officer on Sunday (June 23) that she witnessed an assault on the boy by several other children the day before at the Ashcroft HUB Park.

She told the officer she yelled at the children to stop and they scattered from the area.

Sgt. Kathleen Fitzgerald, the detachment commander, says because the alleged incident happened as a soccer tournament was being held with participants from outside the surrounding area, it's likely there are witnesses from outside Ashcroft.

She says police need help to identify the children involved.

"We are working backwards, the incident occurred on Saturday and was not reported to us until the following day," Fitzgerald says in a press release. "There may be people who came into town on Saturday but not on Sunday and are unaware that we are looking to speak to them."

Police say the boy's injuries aren't considered to be life-threatening.

Witnesses are asked to call the Ashcroft RCMP detachment at 250-453-2216 and cite file number 2019-894.