Boy Dies at Entrance to Subdivision, Sheriff Vows Retribution in 'Horrific' Incident
The death of an 8-year-old Florida boy has one Florida sheriff out for vengeance.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Tuesday that the boy was attacked and killed by two dogs Monday in DeLand.
“We are going to do everything legally possible to hold the owner of these dogs responsible and we are going to do everything possible to make sure that these animals are destroyed,” Chitwood said, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Shortly before 5 p.m., the boy, whose name was not released, came upon two dogs at the entrance to a housing subdivision as he and a friend were riding their bicycles and wanted to pet them
“What a horrific, horrific incident this was,” Chitwood said at the press briefing Tuesday afternoon. “(The boy) is maliciously mauled, brutally mauled, and killed at the scene.”
The boy suffered a broken neck and broken foot, Chitwood said.
Chitdoo said Amanda Franco, 31, owns the dogs. He said he is seeking to have charges filed against her.
“The dogs have been confiscated and are being held in quarantine by Animal Services,” a post from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
Chitwood said some of the boy’s wounds were “devastating,” according to the News-Journal.
“I will tell you that the injuries that (he) sustained, they were just horrific. I don’t know what to tell the family other than the fact that we are going to seek justice,” Chitwood said.
Chitwood said a 911 call reported the incident.
“There is a little boy being attacked by two dogs. Oh my God, please hurry,” the caller said.
“He is not moving, the boy that is being attacked. He was screaming for help and they pinned him down to the ground and they are like biting him and he is not moving, he is not responding,” the caller said, noting that the child’s mother had arrived.
“Oh my God she is on top of him. Mom is on top of him,” the caller said.
The child’s mother can be heard in the background yelling, “He is not breathing.”
Chitwood said this was not an isolated incident, adding that the dogs “have been terrorizing the neighborhood.”
“Tragedy beyond words,” Chitwood posted on Facebook. “I cannot imagine this family’s pain, I can only pray they find strength.”
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