Kentucky Toddler Mauled to Death by Two Family Dogs
A pair of pet dogs killed a 3-year-old boy at their home in Kentucky on Tuesday, according to police.
The two family Rottweilers attacked the child at a property on the 4800 block of Brenda Drive, in the Newburg neighborhood of the city of Louisville, which sits on the border with Indiana, police told the Courier Journal.
Louisville Metro Police arrived at the property a little after 9 a.m. and found the animals had fatally injured the child, Dwight Mitchell, a spokesperson for the force, told the newspaper.
Before the attack, the child fell from a window and landed in the family's yard. The pets then set upon the 3-year-old. Police have launched an investigation into the incident, but no charges will be made following the child's death, according to Mitchell.
Louisville Metro Animal Services also attended the scene and removed the dogs from the property, spokesperson Teeya Barnes told the Courier Journal.
Barnes told Newsweek that the Louisville Animal Ordinance states the dogs must be quarantined for 10 days. After that point they can be euthanized.
The organization would not comment on the incident or release a photo of the dogs out of respect for the victim and their family, she said.
Mitchell said: "Obviously, it's a very devastating thing that's happened here. Our prayers go out to the family at this time."
Local residents told ABC affiliate WHAS11 that the family had moved into the property a year ago. The 3-year-old and his little sister would play in the yard, and talk to neighbors. The dogs were kept behind a fence in the yard.
Neighbor Sylvia Turner told Fox-affiliate WDRB: "He [the victim] always waved. His little sister and him got to say 'Hi neighbors!' So whenever they seen us, that's what they would say."
She told WHAS11: "Little Steven, he was just a beautiful little boy. He was just so full of life and great spirit."
In an interview with CBS affiliate WLKY, Turner said she saw the boy's mother after the attack. "[She was saying] the dogs, the dogs killed my baby," she said.
Andrew Tolbert, who also lives nearby, told WHAS11: "They'd be barking, you'd see the dog jumping every day. It makes my heart just…like I feel like you gotta send love out to that family."
Neighbor Briana Dillon commented to WDRB: "It breaks everybody's hearts when you see all the family out here. It breaks people's hearts, even the people that don't know the family. It's very devastating for a child to lose their life."
Turner's sister, named by WDRB as Sherri, said: "All you mothers out there—mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, anybody out there that's got these wild dogs that you don't think will ever touch your child—please think again. You can't take that back. You can't."
This article has been updated with comment from Louisville Metro Animal Services.
