Child killed, another injured in pit bull attack

ATLANTA — A boy has died, and a girl was seriously injured after a pit bull attack in southwest Atlanta.

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The attack happened around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday while the children were walking to F.L. Stanton Elementary School.

Three children were present during the attack, but only two were mauled by the dogs, WSB-TV reported.

A 6-year-old boy was sent to Grady Memorial Hospital, and a girl was taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. The injured girl was listed in stable condition at a local hospital. The boy died at Grady Hospital's trauma unit.

A neighbor detailed the graphic moment neighbors rushed to save three children, during the attack.

"I (ran) up on the girl. She had been mauled very badly. The dog just ripped into her," neighbor Angie Smith told WSB-TV. "I ran to the baby, and when I looked down at her, I knew there was nothing that I could do."

The scene showed clothing and other items strewn outside the home.

Animal control was sent to the scene, where officers contained two dogs. Sgt. Warren Pickard said a third dog was shot by officers.

"Our officers couldn't get control of it in a manner that he felt safe," Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "So our policies and procedures allow us to act in that capacity."

The owner of the dogs, Cameron Tucker, was taken into custody, but police did not go into detail about any criminal charges.

"We're still trying to evaluate to figure out what really happened," Pickard told the AJC.

Shamonta Clayton, a neighbor to both children injured, said he woke up this morning to screams and ran outside. He found a little girl badly mauled.

"As I get to the end of the street, I see the child's unconscious body laying in the middle of the street," Clayton said.

He noticed another dog and followed it, finding children pinned on a porch on the backside of an abandoned house.

"So I chased the dog away from the kids, and I noticed the second child, a little boy, his unconscious body laying down in the grass," Clayton said.

The dog circled back to the child, and Clayton said he chased the dog off with his gun.

"I picked the child's body up because his mom couldn't do nothing but sit there and just cry," Clayton said.

Pickard said some children "ran back to the scene to try to pull the dogs off the children that were injured."

F.L. Stanton Elementary released a statement regarding their students:

"Atlanta Public Schools can confirm that two F.L. Stanton Elementary students walking to the bus stop were attacked by pitbulls. Both students were transported to Egleston Hospital. One student was transported back to Grady Hospital's trauma unit and later passed away.  The female student at Egleston is in stable condition. Atlanta Public Schools sent a crisis team to F.L. Stanton this morning to provide grief counseling for students and staff. Our deepest condolences go out to the family."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this story.

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