A ten-year-old boy has died following a “horrific” dog attack after visiting a school friend’s house in the village of Penyrheol, near Caerphilly, South Wales.
Police were called after screams were heard coming from a house where children were playing on Monday afternoon, November 8.
Neighbours said they called police after hearing screaming coming from the home in Pentwyn, near Caerphilly.
The boy was mauled to death at the scene by the dog, which was then shot dead by a police marksman.
Both children are believed to be pupils at nearby Cwm Ifor Primary school.
The dog, believed to be an American Pitbull, had bitten a customer outside a nearby shop at the weekend.
It had recently been brought into the area and a family volunteered to look after it for a few hours as a favour to the owner, according to Dailymail.
The local shop worker Tarjit Sandhu, 67, said;
The little boy who died was at the house with his little friend when the dog attacked. It is a fighting dog, an American pit bull, it hasn’t been in the village very long.
A few days ago, it was tied up outside the shop where I work when a man customer bent down to stroke it. The dog bit him on the arm, it was quite a nasty bite.
More than a dozen emergency vehicles were outside the family’s home at 4pm in a street called Pentwyn, in the middle of the village.
Gwent Police said they were called to an address in Pentwyn, Penyrhoel, at around 3.55pm after receiving reports the boy had been attacked and armed officers were sent to the scene.
Paramedics from West Ambulance Service attended but the boy – who has not been named – was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
One neighbour said;
He was with one of his friends who was shouting that the dog was biting his leg. One of the neighbours tried to get the dog off but it was impossible. It was crazed.
Another local businessman said;
It happened soon after the children came home from school. I heard there were screams and shouting. It’s awful.
Police with 12 force vehicles sealed off the road shortly after the attack took place and dozens of officers have remained at the scene.
The officers are interviewing the dog’s owner who according to locals had only had him for a few days.
