HART COUNTY, GA (WSB/CNN) - Two pit bulls are in custody after officers say they attacked a toddler, killing him at a home on a quiet street.
Police arrested Sandra Adams and charged her with second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. They say Adams was babysitting her 20-month-old grandson, Paris, when two of her dogs attacked the child.
Investigators said Adams picked up her daughter, Amy, before heading to the Reddy Urgent Care, where medical personnel pronounced the child dead.
“She had kept a few in a fence and then she kept a couple in her house,” neighbor Harvey Byrum said.
Hartwell Police Chief Anthony Davis said the department was left shaken.
“I think it kind of shocked a bunch of my officers that something like this happened. The community seems quiet right now, but I’m pretty sure, and I know right now, the community is in prayer for the family.,” Davis said.
Police said this grandmother has a history of her dogs getting into trouble. This time, they said, the two dogs inside the house ran out and attacked.
“The two that were in the house are the ones were the ones, I think, had apparently been an issue at one time or the other,” Byrum said.
Davis confirmed that.
“We just had calls to her place - dogs at large, barking, a nuisance,” he said. “I think one had chased someone - hadn’t bit someone - but chased someone.”
The dogs that attacked the child have been quarantined and will be euthanized, officials said.
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