DETROIT, MICHIGAN: A four-year-old boy who was having fun while playing in his own Detroit backyard was mauled to death by at least "one or two" dogs.
The victim, identified as Lovell Anderson by Fox 2 Detroit, was apparently playing in his backyard at around 3 pm in the 9300 block of Pierson on Detroit's northwest side when he met his tragic fate, Cpl Dan Donakowski said in a press conference.
“We’re not sure if it’s one or two dogs, but animal control has two dogs in custody,” Donakowski said, as per NBC News, adding that the dogs were pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
“It’s believed that the dogs belonged to a neighbor, but as far as how it happened, we’re unsure at this time.”
What did the victim's family say?
Anderson's aunt told the outlet that she thinks a neighbor’s dog had managed to grab Anderson through a gap in his fenced-off backyard and pull him to the other side before attacking him.
The victim's family said that he was being watched by his granny at the time of the accident and that his parents were not at home, per WXYZ-TV.
The boy's family also said that one of the dogs currently being held in custody was owned by the boy's grandmother but that animal was not a part of the incident.
Anderson's aunt Monique Grant remembered the boy to WXYZ-TV as “just full of life” while his other aunt Maple Blackshear recalled that he had been “just such a gentleman, so helpful. Just sweet.”
"My sister is truly distraught right now at this moment," one of Anderson's aunts told Fox 2 Detroit.
"This is a very sad situation. As we know in Detroit, pit bulls [are] a big problem when you don't have them trained properly, or tied up, or put in a gate – secured properly."
What did the Detroit Police Department say?
The Detroit Police Department shared the same sentiments as the victim's grandmother at the press conference, encouraging people to secure their dogs so that a tragedy like this doesn't happen again.
“The loss of a child who hasn’t really started their life is just something huge that nobody can really even fathom,” Police Cmdr Arnold Williams said during the press conference, as per NBC News.
“This reminds everybody, if you do have a dog to secure your dog to make sure your dog can’t get out,” Williams added. “That’s the most important thing.”
