A one-year-old boy was viciously mauled to death by three large dogs in a Duncanville neighborhood Monday morning.
According to the Duncanville Police Department, officers responded to a home in the 1500 block of Lime Leaf Lane around 10:40 a.m. after reports of a small child being attacked by a dog.
After arriving at the home with paramedics, police said they found the toddler unresponsive with severe injuries and immediately gave him medical attention until medics came. The child was rushed to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, where he was later pronounced dead.
Dogs were Confined at Babysitter's Home But Somehow Managed to Enter the House and Attack the Child
During a press conference Monday evening, Duncanville Interim Police Chief Matthew Stogner confirmed that the homeowner was babysitting the one-year-old, and there were three other children inside the home at the time of the attack. Police also confirmed that evidence showed that all three dogs were involved in mauling the toddler, and they belonged to the homeowner.
The dogs were in a confined area and somehow made it inside the home before attacking the little boy, according to officers. The woman jumped in between the dogs and the baby to stop them from attacking the toddler, which caused her to be injured as well.
Dogs were German Shepherds Mixes
Duncanville Police said Animal Control officials showed up at the home and took possession of the dogs, which were German Shepherd mixed and weighed about 80 pounds each.
A relative of the homeowner's ex-husband told NBCDFW that the woman has been babysitting children at her house for family members and neighbors for several years. "She's a sweetheart, she means well, she's taken care of kids down there forever without any kind of problems," said David Trout. "I just hate it for her."
Investigators are now looking into whether the homeowner was running a daycare out of the home where the attack occurred. The police department added that criminal charges could be filed as a result of the child's death.
The name of the one-year-old child has not been released, and authorities have not revealed the relationship between the toddler and the babysitter.
