After being mauled by pit bulls, a 63-year-old southern California exerciser died of her injuries from what’s being described as a vicious attack by four animals. A woman who happened to be driving by the scene of the pit bull pack attack on Thursday morning called 911.
The driver honked her horn to try to distract the pit bulls from the attack but it didn’t work.
Early reports described the victim as a jogger, but a later report said that family members explained that she took a walk every day for exercise. It’s possible that she was last seen running because she was attempting to flee the pit bull attack.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded immediately. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered that the four dogs had something on the ground which turned out to be the victim.
According to Lt. John Corina, one of the dogs even attacked the first deputy who arrived on the seen. The deputy fired back, but he missed and all four pit bull s fled the scene.
The unnamed victim died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital in nearby Littlerock, a rural community some 65 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
As a result, police authorities embarked on a door-to-door hunt for the vicious pit bulls.
“Sheriffs deputies are knocking on doors in the neighborhood, patrolling and warning people in the area,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Captain Mike Parker said.
At one point, there was even a helicopter involved in the search for the four tan-colored dogs.
By Thursday evening, Parker reported that the sheriff’s department working with animal control had obtained a search warrant to seize six dogs, including pit bulls and pit bull mixes, from a nearby home. The owner of the dogs has been arrested on narcotics charges.
The investigation is still ongoing. DNA tests will be ordered to confirm that the seized dogs were the ones involved in Thursday’s pit bull mauling death.
[Staffordshire bull terrier photo by Eric Isselee via Shutterstock ]