NEW YORK -- A 4-year-old girl is in critical condition after being mauled by two dogs in New Brunswick, law enforcement officials said today.
The girl, who was not named, was attacked by two pit bulls in a Lufberry Avenue house shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, according to a joint statement by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey and New Brunswick Police Department Director Anthony Caputo.
Three police officers shot and killed both dogs after arriving at the house, police said.
"Neither the child nor a babysitter who was in the room at the time was injured by the gunfire," the statement from the prosecutor and the police director said.
Police did not disclose how many shots were fired or the identity of the owner of the dogs.
The child was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she remains in critical condition, police said.
No charges have been filed, though the investigation is continuing, police said.
A neighbor said she was sleeping Thursday night and the sound of gunfire woke her up.
"I heard three gunshots," said the neighbor, who did not want her name published. "I was scared. I thought it was a robbery. I couldn't go back to sleep and I was scared to go outside."
The neighbor said she lives close to the residence where the pit bulls mauled the girl but she does not know the dog owners well.
"I say hello to them if I see them," the neighbor said. "I work nights, so I don't see them a lot. Sometimes there are dogs outside."
The New Brunswick attack occurred just five months after a similar mauling case in Newark. In February, a 10-year-old Newark boy was critically injured when he was mauled by his two pit bulls, and police shot both dogs, killing one. The boy’s father was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
On June 5, a Howell Township police officer shot and killed a pit bull after being attacked by the dog while responding to a complaint, police said. The officer was not injured.
(NJ.com - July 5, 2014)
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