A 1-month-old girl was terrifyingly mauled to death by the family dog as she slept with her mother and stepfather in New York City on Tuesday morning, according to police.
The horrifying incident unfolded at around 6:40 a.m. when police received a 911 call to an apartment at the Queensbridge Houses public housing complex in Queens.
Police found the infant unresponsive and said she had been gnawed in the face by the family puppy, a pit bull–German shepherd mix. The child was pronounced dead at the scene by responding EMS.
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The dog bit off a ”substantial portion” of the face of the baby, the New York Post reported, citing sources. The outlet reports that the infant had just been born on April 13 while the dog was 6-weeks old.
Neighbors told the Post that they could hear the mother screaming from inside the apartment as EMS workers arrived on the scene. They said her screeches rattled the building.
The child was sleeping between her 27-year-old mother and stepfather when the dog attacked her. The child and the couple have not been identified.
A friend of the mother said she had spoken to the distraught parent.
“She told me she woke up, and the dog was eating the baby!” Chewing on the baby’s face!” the friend said.
“I said, ‘Y’all laying right next to the baby?! How the f— do not hear the baby cry?!” the woman said. “She didn’t have that, she just kept saying, ‘We was laying right there! We was laying right there!’”
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She said she also warned the mother two days ago to put her dog on a leash but that the woman ignored her — telling her it did not bite. Another neighbor, Shanel Norville, said she had told the mother the same thing, but she responded by saying the dog does not bite.
“I said, ’All dogs bite. That dog needs to be on a leash,’” Norville told The Post. “And she just looked at me like whatever.”
The infant’s grandmother told the Daily News that she had previously offered to take the newborn in while the mom, who was living in a shelter at the time, secured better housing.
“I learned that she was pregnant maybe a couple days before she gave birth,” the grandmother told the outlet. “After she gave birth, she loved the baby. I asked her if she had any problems and if she wanted to give me the baby. She said no, she’d take care of her. She would manage.”
The grandmother said she had not yet gotten to meet her new granddaughter when she learned of her death on Tuesday.
“How could they have a dog with a baby?,” she asked. “The dog shouldn’t be in the house.”
The Daily News reported that the infant’s mother was adopted at age 2 and is one of nine children. The infant is survived by an older brother.
The outlet reported that the city’s Animal Care Centers of NYC were called to take the puppy, as well as another dog, out of the apartment.
