A 2-year-old boy died after a 145-pound dog with whom he often played turned on the child and attacked him.
On her Facebook page, Kandi Bettis mourned the loss of her son, Blake.
The incident took place Tuesday in Brunswick, Maryland — about 40 miles northwest of Washington — in the home of the boy’s grandmother, Kim Russell, according to WUSA-TV.
The mastiff-pit bull mix had been with the family for five years, Russell said.
“This is just a complete shock,” she told the outlet, holding back tears. “I just have flashbacks. He was just an angel.”
Russell said the incident happened as a party for her birthday was ending. The dog grabbed the child and refused to let go, she said.
“We don’t know,” Tammy Crawford, the boy’s aunt, said, according to WTTG-TV. “He just attacked him, so. And the dog is very lovable too, so we just don’t know what happened.”
“It’s very heartbreaking, for him to be gone at such a young age. He was such a joy to be around. Very lovable kid. Loved his mother. They were like glue, them two together,” she said.
“The dog, they was friends. We have no reason … Don’t know why it happened, but we’re just trying to deal with it as best we can,” Crawford said.
Brunswick Police Chief Kevin Grunwell said first responders tried to help the boy at the scene, describing the attack as “a terrible incident.”
“Once they located the child, they could tell he was in distress,” he said. “They were able to talk to him and comfort him while they provided first aid.”
Blake went into cardiac arrest while being treated, was taken to a nearby hospital and died there.
According to WUSA, Grunwell said the boy and dog had “a history together. They’d played all day. We don’t know why it happened.”
“B was full of life and personality. If you met him you couldn’t help but fall in love with him,” Amber Russell wrote on a GoFundMe for her sister.
“My sister Kandi is is single loving mom of three and needs help covering expenses to put her little angel to rest. Our family is devastated beyond words,” she wrote.
More than $13,000 was raised for funeral expenses.
Frederick County Animal Control officers had quarantined the dog pending a determination of whether it will be euthanized.
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