Two young children were killed while their mother suffered major injuries after two family dogs attacked them outside their West Tennessee home in the United States.
The mauling took place outside of the family’s Memphis area home, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Kirstie Bennard, 30, suffered critical injuries when she tried to intervene in the attack on her five-month-old boy, Hollace Dean, and two-year-old girl, Lilly Jane, the family told USA TODAY yesterday.
“She put her body on top of Lilly’s to try and protect her after the attack started,” Bennard’s uncle by marriage, Jeff Gibson said.
“Both (dogs) started attacking her while she lay on Lilly,” he said.
The two children were pronounced dead when officials arrived at the home, the sheriff’s office reported. Their mother was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, officials said.
She has since been released from the hospital, Gibson said yesterday.
Gibson said his nephew, Colby Bennard, was not home when the attack took place. It was not immediately known what provoked the mauling.
John Morris, the public information officer for the sheriff’s office, told USA TODAY the case remained an ongoing and active investigation. He did not say whether charges were pending in the case.
The mauling, Gibson said, lasted about 10 minutes. The dogs, two pit bulls that belonged to the family – were euthanized at Memphis Animal Services.
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