An 18-month-old girl reportedly died violently on Tuesday after she temporarily escaped the supervision of the teenager who was looking after her, instead crossing paths with one of the family’s dogs, a pit bull, in her home.
Screams of pain echoed outside the first-floor Newark, New Jersey, apartment Tuesday afternoon where a toddler was critically injured by one of the family’s dogs, ABC7 reported.
That day, the victim, whose identity has not been revealed, had been left under the supervision of a teenager for part of the afternoon when she allegedly escaped his vigilance.
It was then that she allegedly encountered one of the family’s two dogs, a pit bull, which was in the home and which immediately attacked her.
The circumstances surrounding the attack are still being investigated, as police continue to try to determine whether the second dog also present at the scene may have contributed to the attack.
The girl was rushed to a hospital, where she reportedly died of “horrific and serious injuries resulting from an apparent canine attack” around 7 p.m., the Essex County District Attorney’s Office said, according to the New York Post.
Both dogs have been removed from the home as police continue to seek answers from the family, who have been devastated by the tragedy.
In the neighborhood, the canine attack is said to have caused shockwaves as several local residents were reportedly shocked by the incident.
“I was told today that these people have an 18-month-old baby that was torn to pieces by a pit bull or a vicious dog. It’s the most horrible thing that can happen to anyone on earth,” neighbor Kawhon Jahnye told ABC7.
