PHOTOS ADDED: Martinez fourth grader mauled by pit bull in Antioch

CALIFORNIA -- A Martinez fourth grader was recovering Monday morning from major head and facial injuries after being mauled by a pit bull while visiting friends in Antioch over the weekend, police said.

Hunter Ralls, 10, a student at Morello Park Elementary School, was visiting family friends on Sunday in the 2000 block of Reseda Drive when a pit bull got inside the house around 11:45 a.m. and jumped on him, Ralls' mother Melody, said in a phone interview from UC Davis Trauma Center on Monday.

The dog knocked Hunter down the stairs and mauled his face and arms, Ralls said.

It was not known why the dog attacked or how it got into the house, police said. The dog, one of two pit bulls at the home, according to Melody Ralls, was taken by Animal Control and will remain quarantined for at least a week, police said.

Hunter was playing with friends from the Antioch neighborhood and the owners of the dogs were friends of her family, Ralls said.

"Anytime my son has been there, the dogs have been in the back," Melody Ralls said. "He knows not to go near them. I don't know if the owner let the dog into the house or what."

Melody Ralls said she was next door when the attack occurred. Police have not revealed the owners' identity.

Hunter lives next door and came over to this house to play video games

Although Melody says both pit bulls were involved, police say this pit bull
seen inside the owner's house, was not involved in the attack

Hunter was airlifted to the UC Davis Trauma Center after he was taken initially to Children's Hospital in Oakland and underwent surgery Monday to repair injuries to his head, face and arms, his mother said.

Doctors at UC Davis reattached his right ear and he needed more than 100 stitches to repair injuries to each of his arms. The attack also took out two pieces of skin and tissue from the lower back of his head as well as part of his left cheek, Ralls said.

Another surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, likely to repair damage to the right side of Hunter's face between the ear and eye.

Eventually, Hunter will need a skin graft and doctors told the family he might be paralyzed on the right side of his face. The boy was awake Monday morning, Ralls said.

"I'm kind of a disaster, but I'm trying to be strong for him," said Melody Ralls, who also has a 2-year-old son and a 6-month-old daughter. "I'm amazed at the love and the outpour of prayers that we're getting, especially from the Morello Park Elementary parents. It's nice to know that when something tragic happens our community gets together. It makes me feel not alone. It really does."

(Contra Costa Times - Aug 12, 2013)