Oregon authorities responded to a reported dog attack this week — only to find the animals’ owner ushering them into the grisly scene with her hands bloodied from trying to stop the pooches from fatally mauling a child.
A six-year-old boy – who has not been named publicly – was mauled to death by a pair of dogs in a home in Portland Tuesday morning, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said in a statement.
Officers responded to reports of a dog attack at a home in the Parkrose Heights neighborhood around 7:38 a.m. local time, the statement explained.
The dogs’ owner, an adult woman, greeted police at the door with her hands covered in blood from trying to prevent the gruesome attack, PPB spokesperson Mike Benner told KGW8.
The woman was later transported to the hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries, the official statement said.
“It’s a little boy. He’s 6. I speak for everyone at the bureau when I say my heart breaks for this little boy, for his family and for his friends,” Benner told KGW8.
“When something like this happens, it’s a shock to the conscience. To have this happen just weeks before Christmas, it’s just unimaginable,” he lamented.
The two dogs involved in the attack – which police described as large Great Dane mastiff mixes, according to KPTV – on the child were euthanized, the PPB announced Wednesday morning.
A third dog that was also in the home at the time of the attack is being held by Multnomah County Animal Services pending further investigation.
The young victim did not live in the dog owner’s home, but was dropped off there by his grandmother because the dogs’ owner was taking him to school, FOX 12 reported.
The owner was in the garage with three of her dogs when the boy opened the door to the garage, prompting the two dogs to set upon him, the outlet explained.
“We understand that the homeowner/dog owner did everything in her power to stop this attack, at some point even grabbing a gun. It never got that far,” Benner told the outlet.
“She did everything she could to save this boy’s life.”
Locals were shocked by the tragedy.
“They’re fine, they’re so friendly, they’d be jumping on me,” neighbor Sergey Dengub, who said he interacted with the dogs before, told FOX 12.
“They were big dogs, but they were really friendly dogs,” he added.
“I spoke to [the owner’s husband] today…he is very stressed.”