(Newswire.net — October 24, 2017) –The tragedy occurred late Saturday afternoon, and a preliminary investigation suggests that the boy was attacked after he entered a penned area, where the dogs were being kept outside their home in Lowell, said the Middlesex district attorney’s office in their statement.
Authorities have announced that one dog escaped but was captured and euthanized on Saturday night, while the other was taken by animal control, The Boston Globe reports.
The owner of the dogs is Roger Rodriguez, 56-year-old. His girlfriend, Jean Remon, 45-year-old, said that earlier on Saturday, they saw the boy who was playing with other children outside.
She also said that the children were repeatedly warned to stay away from the pit bulls, and a month ago she told the kids not to jump the fence with the animals.
According to the spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, Meghan Kelly, they were investigating the child’s death. They are working to figure out if the boy jumped the fence or if he was pulled in.
The boy’s name will not be released and no charges had been filed yet.
One of the neighbors said to the media that around 6 p.m. Saturday he heard, ”blood-curdling screams down the block”, and after he had come to the fence with the dogs, he saw ”two pit bulls dragging the boy, one by the neck and another by his legs”.
Neighbors were frantically calling 911, while they watched, as they say, a scene from a horror film.
According to the nonprofit organization DogsBite, pit bull attacks caused 232 deaths from 2005 to 2015, and that number counts for 64 percent of all deaths caused by dog bites in that ten year period.
That’s why in June 2011 The Lowell City Council passed an ordinance that limits pet owners to two pit bulls which must be spayed or neutered. Also, the dogs must be in a fenced area, or have to wear a muzzle, reports the Lowell Sun.