Friends of the Shelton family have set up a website in Kayson's memory. (KaysonShelton.com)
A 2-year-old Utah boy died over the weekend when a 6-foot-tall dolphin statue outside a San Francisco fine art and antique store fell on top of him, authorities said Monday.
Police said Kayson Shelton was attempting to climb the statue at the Majestic Gallery on Jefferson Street despite attempts by the boy's older sister to stop him. Witnesses told KTVU that Kayson collapsed shortly after the Sheltons left the store. The boy was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of internal injuries.
"This is an unfortunate and tragic incident," the Majestic's owners said in a statement. "Majestic Collection is and has been co-operating with all investigative agencies. Our hearts and prayers are with the family." Police said that the Gallery had turned over surveillance video of the incident.
San Francisco Police spokesman Officer Gordon Shyy told KTVU that the gallery's owner had been cited for violating a Port Authority code that mandates stores on Fisherman's Wharf to keep merchandise behind a line painted on the sidewalk. Shyy also said that the store had been warned about violating the rule during last year's America's Cup races.
Friends of the Shelton family have created a website in his memory and established a fund to help pay for Kayson's funeral.
"The last words he spoke in this life were 'I love you,'" a post on the website read in part. "Such a beautiful and loving child, and while we are greatly comforted in the knowledge that families are forever, we will dearly miss his smiling face until then."
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