A 7-year-old Louisiana girl was mauled to death by a neighbor’s pitbull that ran into her family’s yard, authorities said.
Sadie Davila was playing outside the East Baton Rouge Parish home at 6:30 p.m. Friday when the dog barreled onto the property and “viciously attacked her,” according to arrest documents obtained by the Advocate.
A family member tried to ward off the dog by hitting it with a walking cane, but the animal couldn’t be deterred.
The first-grader was taken to the hospital with multiple dog bites to her face and severe skull damage. She later succumbed to her injuries, police said.
“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,” Sadie’s mother, Haley Anselmo, wrote 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, Mikey Davila, wrote in an Instagram story.
Sadie’s school, Woodlawn Elementary, remembered her as a young girl “blossoming in thedawn of her life.”
“Sadie was fierce and spunky, but she was also tender hearted and kind,” her teacher, Grace Feucht, said in a statement. “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.”
Investigators found the dog after the incident with blood around its face and mouth, the affidavit states. A “substantial” amount of blood was found in Sadie’s yard.
The dog was euthanized the night of the killing, the city’s animal control director told the Advocate.
The dog’s owner, Erick Lopez, told officers he wasn’t home during the attack and regularly lets the dog roam the neighborhood unrestrained. The 20-year-old’s home, roughly 150 yards from where Sadie was killed, is not surrounded by gates or fences, the documents noted.
Lopez was charged Saturday with negligent homicide for failing to confine or restrain the animal.
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