Owner of Pit Bulls in Fatal Mauling of Boy, 4, Arrested

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The owner of four pit bulls that mauled and killed a 4-year-old Detroit boy after tearing him from his mother’s arms Wednesday has been arrested and is in custody pending negligent homicide or manslaughter charges, police said.

The horrific mauling occurred about 12:25 p.m. Wednesday on the 15500 block of Baylis near the Lodge Freeway Service Drive and Fenkell on Detroit’s west side. The boy, who The Detroit News identified as Xavier Strickland, was walking with his mother to a nearby school, where she planned to volunteer.

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• ‘They Got My Baby’: Pit Bulls Maul Boy, 4, to Death

The dogs came around the corner and began to attack the child, police said. The boy’s mother tried to fight them off, but they grabbed the child from her arms and pulled him under the fence and began mauling him with a viciousness that Detroit Police Chief James Craig said left officers severely shaken.

Nyasha Reid, 36, who was among neighborhood residents who called 911, told the Detroit Free Press she heard Xavier’s mother scream: “They got my baby!”

Three of the dogs were shot by police in an effort to save the boy, and a fourth was corralled and taken into custody. The boy was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.

Police said the owner of the dogs, 41, has cooperated with authorities. Authorities are investigating whether there have been previous complaints about the dogs, which were unlicensed.

Xavier’s uncle Ramone Cage, told the Detroit Free Press Thursday that one of the dogs previously attacked ”and almost got” the boy’s sister.

“This is not the first incident where the dogs almost got one of her children,” Cage said. “This is the second.

“The dog was biting her coat and book bag and she was able to get out and run home,” he continued. “My sister said she talked to someone and the police had already went to him, but since the dogs didn’t actually injure my niece, they just warned him. He said he was going to put them up but apparently he didn’t. This is almost like déjà vu. It just went from bad to a worse situation.”

Detroit Police Officer Jennifer Moreno told The Detroit News the warrant packet will be submitted to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office Thursday or early Friday morning.

The dog pack attacked Xavier in his abdomen and back, Officer Shanelle Williams said, according to The Detroit News.