A man was mauled to death by his three dogs during a walk with his 4-year-old son, according to California police.
26-year-old Pedro Ortega was walking the dogs with his son at the Mesa Viking Neighborhood Park near their home in Mira Mesa on Dec. 13 when the dogs attacked for unknown reasons. Bystanders in the park tried to help the man fight the dogs and were able to save the child.
A neighbor in the area caught video of one of the dogs wandering into his garage and covered in blood with Taser darts in him.
When police arrived, they used an electric stun gun to disperse the dogs. Ortega was transported to Scripps Memorial Hospital Emergency Department, where he was later declared dead.
The San Diego Humane Society said a bystander who tried to stop the attack was also treated for serious bite wounds.
The dogs were captured and euthanized with the consent of Ortega’s family. Police said they were bullmastiff dogs and that they were unleashed at the time of the attack.
A neighbor in the area caught video of one of the dogs wandering into his garage. He told KFMB-TV that the dog was covered in blood and had taser dart in him.
Another resident told KFMB that they had seen the owner walking with the dogs at the park the day before the attack, and he was surrounded by young children.
Ortega’s son was uninjured.
The Humane Society said they had no prior record of an attack by the dogs. The Centers for Disease Control says that about 43 people are killed per year by dog attacks on average.
The surveillance video of one of the dogs can be viewed in the news report from KFMB on its YouTube channel.
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