ATLANTA (AP) — Police say a child has died and two others were seriously injured after two pit bulls attacked them in southwest Atlanta. The owner of the two dogs was arrested hours later.
Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard tells local news outlets the attack occurred about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday while the children were walking to elementary school. Pickard says one of the dogs was shot by officers.
Neighbor Shamonte Clayton says he awoke to the sound of screams. He ran outside, saw one pit bull standing over a girl and eventually ran the dog off. That girl, identified by police as 5-year-old Syrai Sanders, was critically injured in the attack.
Officers said the boy who was killed was five or six years old, according to Fox 5. A third child was treated and released from the hospital.
UPDATE on the dog attack on the children this morning: We have the two pit bulls and their owner in custody.
— Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) January 17, 2017
Witnesses saw the attack as it was happening, and one man intervened to try to protect the children, coming out of his home with a baseball bat in an attempt to stop the mauling.
Others in the neighborhood came to the scene with knives, witnesses said. Other children in the area also tried to come to the aid of the victims, police told reporters.
Atlanta Public Schools officials say the children attended F.L. Stanton Elementary School.
Fire spokesman Cortez Stafford says one child was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. The other was taken to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
Pickard says a crisis team was sent to the elementary school to provide grief counseling for students and staff.
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