An infant was mauled to death by its parents' pet German Shepherd dog in Virginia in the early hours of Monday, October 26. According to the Hampton Police Division who released a statement, the infant had been killed during the early hours of the morning at a property in the first block of Scotland Road. Officers had been called to the scene around 3.15 am after reports that a dog had mauled a baby.
The officers who responded to the scene found a "small infant that had sustained injuries consistent with a canine attack" at the property, Newsweek reports. Personnel from the Hampton Division of Fire & Rescue had pronounced the baby dead at the scene. Police revealed that the baby had been asleep next to its parents who were woken up by "a large amount of motion". It was then that the father of the baby saw the injuries on the child. He immediately shot and killed the dog which was a mixed-breed German Shepherd. The family revealed that the dog had never previously shown any sort of aggression. Animal Control later took possession of the dead dog.
According to Pilot Online, Hampton Police Sgt. Amanda Moreland said that the child was sleeping in an electronic swing next to the parents' bed and that the 3.15 am commotion "wasn’t normal to an infant". Moreland said, "We think the dog stepped on the bed or hit the bed, and that woke the parents up." Moreland added, "It was more than just one dog bite, but it also wasn’t a mauling per se. But also the child was very young, and they’re just more fragile." While the baby's mother called 911, the father took the dog into the backyard and shot it to death.
The Hampton Fire Division paramedics pronounced the baby dead. As per neighbors, the baby's body was taken by the state medical examiner’s office. The authorities revealed that the 8-year-old dog's name was Lane. What set the dog off and made it attack the infant is not known. Hampton Police spokesman Sgt. Reggie Williams said, "According to the family, the dog was not aggressive. They had no issues with this dog prior." He shared, "There’s just no words that I can say that can express the amount of grief and sorrow that this family must be going through."
The couple's neighbor, Ruben Pritchett, told about the father: "He broke down. He was crying, he was upset, very emotional. They’re a good family. What happened is a tragedy, and I told him they had our condolences." Pritchett added that the dog did not appear to be vicious. "Lane was a well-trained dog. He was a good dog... No issues, no problem at all. He loved his dog — he was all about his dog. That hurt him as well as losing his daughter... I feel for him because I have grandkids myself, and several dogs. So I couldn’t imagine anything like that."
Another neighbor Keith Hinton heard the gunshot at 3 am and said, "I looked out my window to see what was going on. They’ve got our condolences for the loss of their baby."