Pit Bull Mauling Death Being Referred To Grand Jury
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Dallas Police say they'll refer a dog-mauling death to grand jury to determine if criminal charges should be considered.
10-week-old Brayden Lamar Wilson was momentarily left unattended in a bouncing seat in his Red Bird area home Sunday afternoon, according to police. The family pet, a pit bull, mauled the baby and also one of his parents when they came in and tried to save the child. But little Brayden Lamar Wilson was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The baby's grandmother told CBS-11 News the dog was eight years old and that two older children had grown up with it. "It's just unexplainable, said Willetta Tate. "You just don't get it when you've had the dog so long, I don't know what could have happened. I don't know."
"Those kids, they sleep with him and everything," she continued, speaking of her surviving grandchildren, age 8 and 11. But Sunday the family pet named Grady turned murderous predator, mauling ten week old Brayden in a bouncing seat while the parents were outside. When the father returned from turning on a sprinkler he found Grady attacking Brayden. "Once he got the dog off the baby he proceeded to bring the dog out and she had the dog and the dog was trying to get away from her," according to Tate.
The father shot the animal twice, killing it, but not before it bit the mother as well. Today bandages could be seen on her both wrists as she returned home with her children. They spent the morning being re-interviewed by Child Protective Services to make sure there was no further danger to the children's welfare. Tate says they're struggling for answers.
"It's just unexplainable," according to Tate. "Like I said, kids play with him every day, littler kids, nieces and nephews and I just... I don't know."
Some of those same kids played with neighbor Chanel Villarreal's daughter, too. Villarreal took it hard. "I was devastated. I felt so bad, I was like, 'Oh, my God. A dog attack? In our neighborhood?' And then when I heard it was a baby I felt so bad."
But she cautions don't be quick to blame the breed. She owns a pit bull herself and says the rumors of all dogs being unstable is a myth. "But that reputation isn't true; not all pit bulls are like that. Some are, some are not." She added, "It is unfair, because you can't stereotype a pit bull."
Child Protective Services interviewed the family last night and again today, according to Tate. CPS has no record of any previous history with the family.
Dallas Animal Services is conducting its own investigation and will have the dog's head sent off to Austin to check for rabies.
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