Four pit bulls mauled a 4-year-old Detroit boy to death in front of his mother, after yanking him away while she was walking him to school in their neighborhood.
The boy died from his injuries after the attack, reported The Associated Press. Police killed three dogs and the fourth was captured, Sgt. Cassandra Lewis said.
The dogs crawled through a gap at the bottom of a fence and pounced as the pair walked by.
"The mother tried to fight the dogs off," Police Chief James Craig said. "What's telling in this scenario (is) the viciousness of these animals, the fact that they removed this child from the mother's grasp."
A witness, Nyasha Reid, said the mother screamed, "They got my baby."
Reid and others called 911. Neighbors yelled at the dogs and used a brick and club to try to free the boy.
"The cop had to open fire to at least get the dogs off the baby," said another witness, Yolanda Samuels.
The boy's name was not released, nor was the name of the dogs' 41-year-old owner. Police said he's cooperating.
"It's pretty much an open-and-shut case," Lewis said. "We know who the dogs belong to."
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