A 5-year-old girl was mauled on the head and torso as her father tried to protect her from two large family dogs in their backyard in unincorporated Covina, authorities said Monday.
The attack occurred about noon Sunday in the 2500 block of Palomino Drive, sheriff's homicide Lt. Steven De Jong told City News Service. The girl was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
De Jong told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou that they got crucial information about the dogs’ prior behavior from family members at the scene.
“The dogs were described as family pets and the decedent had spent most of her life around these dogs,” he said. “So it came as a shock that this incident occurred.”
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The girl's father told detectives she was walking behind him in the backyard when he realized two dogs were attacking her and jumped on his daughter to protect her, the lieutenant said.
The attacking dogs were a 10-year-old Rottweiler and a 6-year-old Rottweiler-Weimaraner mix, De Jong said. All four of the dogs who lived at the home were taken into custody by L.A. County Animal Control officers.
Detectives were investigating the death as "a very unfortunate, tragic accident," De Jong said.
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