Texas grandma locks 6-year-old boy in shed for weeks for stealing food during 'this corona thing'
Shed in Dallas where 6-year-old boy was held captive (KTVT/screen grab)

Police in Dallas, Texas say they have freed a 6-year-old boy who was tied up in a shed since schools have been out due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.


KTVT reported that police located the boy in a shed behind a home on Coston Drive around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

Police said that the boy's grandmother, 53-year-old Esmeralda Lira, at first insisted that her grandson was with his mother. But a man living behind the home pointed officers to a shed.

The grandmother agreed to open the shed door after police threatened to break it down. The boy was found inside.

According to the report, the woman insisted that the boy had been locked in the shed as a one-time punishment.

But her boyfriend had a different story, telling police that the grandson had been locked in the shed for two weeks for stealing food.

The boy confirmed to police that he had been in the shed since he “got out of school for this corona thing.”