A 51-year old woman was found dead in the 16th Police District of Philadelphia.
Citizen App
Philadelphia, PA - Earlier today, Citizen App announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, a fatal dog attack in the 4100 block of Parrish Street in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia. Audio dispatch log files from Philadelphia Police Dispatch - West, the 16th District, add more information. "4115 Parrish Street ... for a female attacked by a dog," the dispatcher states. "The female was pronounced at 12:15 by Medic 26. The dog is contained. They have one male in custody ... There is a [scene] inside."
We were first alerted to this attack by a retired Philadelphia police officer, who now writes the Gorman Growl blog, according to his Facebook page. He heard the same audio dispatch log file as us. The last fatal dog attack in the city also occurred in West Philadelphia, about three miles away. Antonio Shaw, 63, died two months after being attacked by two pit bulls on North 62nd Street. While being treated at Lankenau Hospital, he underwent 15 surgeries and doctors had to amputate one of his legs.
CBS News Philadelphia was the first mainstream media outlet to report this attack. The victim is 51-years old. Police said she was often at the West Philadelphia home. Four pit bulls are seen being led from the Parrish Street residence in red leashes. Sources told CBS that the victim had a good relationship with the dogs. The number of dog bites she sustained is unknown. Her death is being characterized as a death investigation. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
NBC reports the victim is a mother of five. She lives at the home on Parrish Street with her five dogs. After family members had not heard from her for a day or so, one of her sons stopped by the home to check on her and found her unresponsive. Family members believe their mother was killed and that this is a homicide investigation. During this news report, police stood outside of the front door that remained open, waiting for the medical examiner to arrive. The attack occurred inside the home.
Four pit bulls seen being led from the home on Parrish Street, where a woman died.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Pennsylvania Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
12/09/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: 63-Year Old Man Dies 2 Months After Pit Bull Attack in West...
08/03/18: 2018 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Kill Toddler, Injure Babysitter in Philadelphia's Port...
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Its sad she died but I can’t feel sympathy for her. She knew that pitbull are killer dog and dangerous.I don’t care if I have a 22 years friendship with the dog owner there no way I’m stepping into his house willing knowing he own more then one pitbull.I’m more sadder for her kids her grandsons granddaughter because they can’t spend Christmas and Thanksgiving with her she’s only 51 she got a long life for herself.
One more thing if she was comfortable with the pitbull. Why did they end up killing her. This wouldn’t happen if the owner was a smart guy and he got any other dog breed like poddle airedale terrier or dachshund.
Pitbulls kill people. It’s just a fact.
The family wants the death to be called
a homicide. Who in his/her right mind would come in to kill a woman with five pitbulls present? Who is that brave?
It’s more likely that she had a medical episode. Philadelphia police often do not identify victims and the cause of death is not released. We may never know the outcome of this case.
Cannot they tell from an autopsy
what killed her or do the dog bites
conceal the issue?
The autopsy will tell them. But cause of death, whatever that may be, may not ever be released.
It’s interesting that it was reported the victim had severe dog bites and yet family members took them away. Not animal control? I wonder if there will be DNA evidence to prove whether or not her pets murdered her. Four pit bulls, let’s get real. Even if she had a medical emergency, they finished her off. In fact, she might have had a heart attack while they were mauling her. In the meantime, family members have brought these sweet pitties to their own homes. I hope their children will be safe.
Exactly. That is not indicative of a “suspected” fatal dog attack at all. She had five dogs — family took away four? Maybe one dog was taken in by animal control.
If someone is in custody, will we find out more about that?
It was all very early. Responders were racing to the scene; police were protecting the scene; and only parts of information were known. It’s unclear if we will learn anything about the person taken into custody.
My impression is that the person taken in custody was the son who found her. The police may have taken him into custody until they knew more of the situation, particularly if he said he was the owner of the dogs and/or if he was behaving erratically. He had probably been released until the results of the autopsy. The family is likely hoping she was murdered so that the dog(s) will not be found at fault, leading to possible charges against the son. Apparently the wounds caused by the dogs were not bad enough that her death was not obviously due to them.
I would also suspect, instead of a heart attack, she may have had a seizure or stroke that caused convulsions and the dogs freaked out.
“Sustained an unknown number of dog bites” https://youtu.be/uIZ3pR1dr7g?si=T_dQwK5g6PUaClHr
Well if you call the dog attacks by pit bulls a homicide then I suppose they will have their murder! Otherwise they have taken potentially killer pit bulls home lo maul them and their children. I wish them luck. I wonder if they’ll claim the next victim of their pit bulls was murdered as well? I don’t think it takes a medical emergency to get a pit bull to attack, I recall woman who sat on a m broken chair, a woman who fell a woman who sneezed, children who laughed all setting off a vicious pit bull mauling that resulted in death! Wouldn’t the death certificate be public information? I do genealogy and have seen a great number of death certificates that list multiple reasons for the death. For example they list sepsis due to pneumonia due to asthma or something like this when an autopsy is preformed they’re usually sickeninglly though and list multiple causes on the death certificate.
It’s fine to list a cause of death, but many dead bodies don’t clearly tell that.
And lots of bodies are buried or cremated without the whole story. For example, my mother had metastatic breast cancer to her brain. She had one solitary brain tumor which was removed. She also had radiation to her brain which secondarily caused damage to the blood vessels in her brain. That led to neuron damage and progressive
dementia. That led to staying in bed until she died of sudden cardiac death due to a massive heart attack. Her death certificate says metastatic breast tumor and sudden cardiac death. Death certificates often give only a fraction of the medical problems in the deceased.