Authorities say a pitbull ran into the yard of a 7-year-old Louisiana girl and mauled her to death.
The girl was playing outside her family’s home in East Baton Rouge Parish at 6:30 pm on Friday when the dog charged onto the property, allegedly attacking her viciously.
A family member hit the dog with a walking cane in an attempt to fend it off, but it could not be stopped.
As a result of her multiple dog bites to her face and severe skull damage, the first-grader ended up at the hospital. Police said she later died from her injuries.
“My baby. She is only 7 years old. My mini me. The light in my heart. Words don’t exist for what this feeling is. My family is shattered. Please pray for us. Pray they press charges on the dog’s owners & hold them responsible,” wrote Sadie’s mother on Facebook.
“RIP my sweet Sadie Elizabeth, 7-years-old & taken from us in the most violent way. The world is a cruel place. You were the light in my heart,” her father wrote in an Instagram post.
Sadie’s school, Woodlawn Elementary, remembered her as a youngster “blosoming in the
dawn of her life.”
“Sadie was fierce and spunky, but she was also tender hearted and kind,” wrote her teacher Grace Feucht. “She brought energy and joy into my class every single time she stepped in the door. She was fearless and would sing her heart out in front of her classmates.”
According to the affidavit, investigators discovered blood around the dog’s face and mouth after the incident. There was a “substantial” amount of blood found in Sadie’s yard.
A city animal control director told the Advocate that the dog was euthanized the night of the killing.
Erick Lopez, the dog’s owner, told officers he was not home during the attack and regularly let the dog roam the neighborhood unrestrained. The documents identify that the 20-year-old’s home, located approximately 150 yards from where Sadie was killed, does not have gates or fences.
Due to Lopez’s failure to confine or restrain the animal, he was charged with negligent homicide on Saturday.