Lorena Cordova, 47, died after a vicious dog attack in Dacula that occurred in September.
Asking for Felony Charges
UPDATE 12/27/19: Prosecutors are now seeking felony charges after three pit bulls viciously attacked 47-year old Lorena Cordova on September 16 in Dacula, Georgia. Cordova suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack, including "considerable muscle and nerve damage in all of her limbs," organ damage and bacterial and fungal infections. By November 6, Cordova continued to be in the ICU "fighting for her life." She succumbed to her injuries and died on November 21.
District Attorney Danny Porter said his office would seek a grand jury indictment for felony involuntary manslaughter charges against David and Vickie Clark. "We don't really know where we will be or a resolution, but we are moving forward with felony charges," Porter told WSB-TV. The grand jury may or may not indict; it is up to Porter's office to present the evidence necessary for an indictment. If indicted and proven guilty in court, the Clarks will face up to 10 years in jail.
Three pit bulls seen on the dog owner's multiple Facebook pages since January 2019.
11/30/19: Mauling Victim Identified
Local media outlets confirmed the death of 47-year old Lorena Cordova, who died on November 21 after suffering severe injuries from a dog attack on September 16. Her daughter, 23-year old Ingrid Alvarado, said the neighbor's three pit bulls had been an ongoing problem. Alvarado found her mother that morning, injured and bleeding out on the pavement, reports CBS 46. "They already had mauled her completely and there [were] just chunks missing of her body," she said.
"I couldn't hold her, I couldn't help her, because she was just missing chucks of her right arm." - Ingrid Alvarado, 11 Alive News, November 26, 2019
"The attack caused muscle and nerve damage in all of her limbs. She also sustained internal organ trauma," Alvarado told 11 Alive News. Cordova was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center then transferred to Grady's Marcus Trauma Center, where she later died. CBS 46 spoke to the owner of the pit bulls, "Mr. Clark," who claimed the victim "come down on his property." Clark's pit bulls were euthanized after the attack. Police also charged Clark with reckless conduct -- a misdemeanor.
11/25/19: Support for Lorena Fundraiser
Dacula, GA - On November 23, the organizer of a GoFundMe page for an adult victim of a vicious dog attack announced that she succumbed to her severe, complicated injuries on November 21. We only found one media report of this September 16 attack. In late October, 11 Alive reported the adult female victim was still hospitalized. Her first name is Lorena and she was in her mid 40s. The beneficiary of the fund is the victim's husband, Rolando Gonzalez-Carrillo, the fund states.
The fundraiser was created on October 3. "Lorena is a dear friend of mine," states the organizer. "I am shocked and saddened that she was viciously attacked by three pit bulls in her own yard just a couple weeks ago. The dogs came from a neighbor's house and were not fenced in. She is fighting for her life and needs our help. The attack caused horrific, life-threatening injuries that require specialized care. She has considerable muscle and nerve damage in all of her limbs."
By October 13, Lorena remained in ICU, requiring 24-hour sedation and a ventilator. "She is in a trauma center, and her family was recently told she was the sickest person in the hospital. Before the attack, she was perfectly healthy. Now she has kidney failure and requires daily dialysis," states the update. "If she continues to lose tissue around the artery in her right arm, she will need to have her right arm amputated. None of the doctors can offer a prognosis," the fund states.
According to the GoFundMe, this is not the first time the neighbor's three pit bulls had attacked a person or an animal. "They had attacked other people and many other animals previously. The owners knew or should have known the pit bulls were vicious. The week before the attack, Lorena's husband asked the owner to do something about the dogs. Yet, the pit bull owners did nothing," states the organizer. By November 6, Lorena's medical condition had not improved.
We continue to provide any information that we find to local media. We expect police and media confirmation in the coming days. Again, the attack occurred on September 16 in the 3000 block of Luther Wages Road. Lorena was working in her own yard when the dogs viciously attacked her. One family member was injured by the dogs while trying to save Lorena. After the attack, the owner surrendered all three dogs to animal control. The dogs were subsequently euthanized.
Area on Luther Wages Road in Dacula where a woman was attacked by three vicious dogs.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Georgia Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
04/09/18: 2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Child Killed by Two Family Pit Bulls in Hart County, Georgia
10/05/17: 2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Killed by Pit Bull While Visiting Owner's Home...
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.
“After the attack, the owner surrendered all three dogs to Animal Control.”
But when your neighbor asked you to please do something about your dogs, you ignored it, la la la, you knew better. You could have saved a life but your stupid shit bulls were more important, you lazy ass.
I hope they try that asshole for murder. At least second degree murder.
RIP Lorena.
Lorena’s family needs to file a big, fat lawsuit against the owner of these dogs. Matter of fact, that should happen after every attack that causes injury or death.
Many, many daily dog attacks that cause major injury go virtually unreported. This scenario happens many, many more times than officially acknowledged. The official statistics are severely underinflated. This lady was horribly killed by the hostility of the earth and the evilness of her neighbors that ended her life in the form of dangerous animals that are legally allowed to be in our neighborhoods.
Another preventable death and another family heartbroken because of someone else’s perceived “right” to own deadly dogs. I’m glad the attacking dogs were euthanized, but if the owners had taken action before this Lorena would still be alive.
My sister is dealing with a dangerous neighborhood pit which recently killed her cat right before her eyes while the owner turned her back and walked away dispassionately, then later made up lies about what happened. I have no doubt that the dog would attack a person. Meanwhile the court case drags on as the pit owners promise to build a fence soon, claim he’s a good dog, deny responsibility, etc, etc. I know these people and they are kind and reasonable folks in every other way except when it comes to their dog. I’ve told my sister to report every incident, to carry a gun at all times in her yard and to never leave her door open. I’m terrified she or someone visiting her will end up just like this poor lady, all because pit owners won’t face the reality that their dogs are a deadly menace.
Real and lasting repurcussions for owners in cases like this latest fatality would eventually have an impact. Even though most pit bull owners don’t care about other people, they do care about THEMSELVES and at least some would not want to risk imprisonment if their dogs decide to maim and kill.
I feel so sad for Lorena and her family, especially after all the extended pain she had to endure before finally succumbing to her injuries.
Meanwhile, in Tucson, Arizona, here is what’s being posted on the Nextdoor neighborhood watch website:
Original post: There is a white pit loose on Blacklidge. It has a multi colored collar. It took an aggressive stance with me.
And now, the responses …
Response #1: Same here. I was rolling out my trash bin and it ran at me and was very aggressive. I was lucky I had the trash bin between us.
Response #2: Just found a neighbor who knew who he belonged to and he put him away
Response #3: I’m glad you’re okay with that said I believe he was very scared.
Response #4: He was front of my house for a while. I tried to get him to come to me and he wouldn’t. He just seemed pretty lost and confused. I’m glad he’s home safe and sound.
My thoughts: I agree with Sellis. Blacklidge Street isn’t very far away from where I live. Now that I’ve been warned, I will avoid the area.
I also think that the residents along Blacklidge Street should start arming themselves, but I sure as heck won’t say so on Nextdoor. That site is a hotbed of pit nutters if there ever was one.
Agree, Nextdoor is a hotbed for pit bull Nutters. They got me kicked off. I never looked back.
Poison doesn’t care who or what it kills. We’re trying to prevent more deaths of innocent pets, livestock, and children (not to mention any wild animals that consume poisoned flesh).
An oxycontin tucked into a hot dog might do.
Prayers go out to her family❤️💔 words cannot replace her life or her families loss and pain. So sorry
The owner knew about the threat and did nothing. And the police? Did they know? Was the threat reported to the police? What action did they take? Line of a song with brief, repetitive lyrics: “Nothing ever got done.”
The police were worse than that. Click on the news piece. The victim’s daughter was speeding down the road with her grievously injured mother when she encountered law enforcement. The responding officer told her to get to the fire department to get help. No offer to give basic first aid or to call EMS. No concern for the reckless driving the daughter was doing (at no fault of her own but due to this life and death situation.
I want the owners of the pits to be named.
The number of owners that refuse to take seriously the aggressiveness of their dogs, is crazy! The same owners keep having issues with the same or new pets. The dogs are the way they are, because of genetics and sometimes environment. The owners are the way they are because they are delusional and unrealistic. I have heard that once is a mistake, after that it becomes a choice. With choice comes responsibility. Prayers to this victims family.
I do NOT meant to downplay the role of breed or the owner in these attacks, but I think it’s worth mentioning that this situation of nationwide rise in dog attacks and the explosion in fatal attacks has contributing factors. To use this case as an example:
1) The rise of anti-tethering laws. Dacula is in Gwinnett County, GA. This county essentially outlawed dog tethering in 2015, at the behest of animal activists. This was a good intention – it is inhumane to chain dogs to trees 24/7 for virtually their entire lives and chained dogs used to be a major source of serious dog bites to anyone who got into range of that chain. But with the population explosion of pit bulls, a powerful, escape-prone aggressive type of dog, criminalizing chaining had an unintended consequence – a large population of aggressive pit bulls routinely escaping either trolley system tethers (as allowed in Gwinnett) or over/under average fences. Chaining pit bulls to trees is not safe for anyone who gets into range, but it does have a good history of actually keeping the pit bull where it’s put. And it’s affordable (not cheap, chains aren’t cheap) enough and easy enough to install that even poor owners can readily put that containment method into place. Trolley systems break with collies attached, let alone pit bulls, and fences are expensive and only the most expensive and carefully designed will hold multiple pit bulls.
2) The increasing distaste of public entities for funding adequate animal control, and outsourcing its two main functions (control and rehoming) to two very different sources, private animal welfare groups and the police. Gwinnett Count’s animal control is handled via the police; if you need to report a violent dog, you call the police and they will “notify” an Animal Control Officer. This clearly is not a great way to respond to the emergency that is a potentially deadly animal running loose in a neighborhood.
Again, not to downplay the role of breed or owner. NEITHER of these two factors would really be causing major issues – let alone human deaths – if not for the pit bull population explosion. But with this many pit bulls in the population, it is inevitable, given their temperament, that the weakening of direct physical containment and municipal oversight will result in a lot of aggressive incidents.
Excellent points, the first being something I’ve never even considered. I wonder how much direct overlap there is between the passing of anti-tethering laws in a county and an increase in maulings there? Would be an interesting study.
I’m curious too if anti-tethering laws result not just in more loose dogs, but also in more families who would not normally do so bringing their dogs indoors to be among the family? Full size indoor dogs were an anomaly in my area during my childhood, especially for families with young children. This constant contact may have an impact on the number of in-home attacks, especially among families who can’t afford the type of fencing a pit bull requires. So anti-tethering may impact not just attacks by loose dogs but also by family dogs m
At the same time, “adopt don’t shop” has been pushed while the price of “normal” breeds skyrocket, meaning that more people are choosing dogs from shelters, which of course due to no-kill and other factors have a huge abundance of pits (often mislabeled and with their issues veiled) but very few “normal” dogs. Even families who don’t want a pit have them pushed at them so hard by shelter staff that many take them because they’re guilted into it or outright lied to. And if a family chooses to shop not adopt, pits are one of the most affordable dogs out there. Looking at our local Craigslist shows the most available and affordable dogs in my area to be pit bull mixes, then full pits, then huskies and their mixes.
So many things are coming together to exacerbate a problem which has always existed.
People all say that how a dog is raised is important in creating future behavior. But with the strength of the adopt-don’t-shop movement it is darn hard to get a puppy to raise it right!
Affordable breed neutral punishment.
If your dog severely injures or kills a human, another dog, any other domestic animal away from the dog’s home, all the owners and handlers are charged with felony animal cruelty and neglect.
All dogs are immediately removed from the property or their contact.
Found guilty, the humans all receive a permanent ban on any dog ownership or contact.
No dog should be forced to live with neglectful abusive humans.
Since they insist that the cause of dog attacks is the owner’s fault, not the dog breed or bloodlines, no person who actually cares about dog welfare would resist this law.
Signs must be posted
NO DOGS PERMITTED.
The FBI can track them and post the online registry of those who are prohibited from owning dogs.
Any dogs later found on their property or in their control will be immediately confiscated.
Publicized and enforced, this breed neutral affordable law would begin to make shelters, and rescues, breeders and dog trainers, honest about the disproportionate risks and safety requirements of dangerous dogs.
Otherwise the shelters, rescues, breeders, and dog trainers risk losing clients for life.
You can’t depend on animal uncontrol or the dogs owners for your personal safety. If you know there are any dogs that run loose, don’t be out in your yard without a weapon to defend your life with, preferably with hollow points.
As a person with mental health issues who would not feel safe with a gun in the house and as someone who lived in a virtually gun free country, I do not support guns. We should not have to carry a gun to ensure our existence. I prefer breed specific laws like the ones in the country I lived in. There you weren’t allowed to own a pit bull or a gun and I can tell you deaths from either source were virtually nonexistent. I think some of the gun comments on this site will push away more liberal readers who might be on the fence about pit bulls. Just my two cents.
If you don’t want a gun don’t have one. Problem solved. I used to live in Denver and even WITH a ban there were pits everywhere. One seriously mauled a UPS driver. Again, you cannot depend on pit owners or the authorities. If you don’t want a gun there are other weapons, a hatchet head shot would likely do some good.
“I just know that I live in a liberal city with a lot of pit bull sympathizers…” — SNIPPED by DogsBite.org 12/02/2019. When we state “do not make this a partisan issue” we mean it.
Quote snip: “… …and self protection would probably send them running into the arms of the pit nutters… …”
….then the real, immediate threat of the dangerous dogs will drive them back to their senses and this site.
The next time I am ambush attacked by my neighbors dangerous dogs on the street, I am not going to defend myself, not to make anyone happy, but instead because my hour has come to depart from this life and be with God in Heaven.
all the talk of guns and self protection
The gun talk genuinely scares me
having a lot of talk about shooting and self protection
TBH, the person most obsessed with guns on this entire comment thread is you.
I’m not sure why you think that other people’s reaction to this site is something that you need to control.
Recommend or don’t recommend is the only thing you control. Should you choose to recommend, their reaction is up to them.
I have read probably every page on this site or very very close to it over the last couple months. My impression, as someone who neither owns a firearm nor is scared of them, is that the ratio of discussion between pit bulls & firearms is something like 500:1. Entire comment threads go by with nary a mention of carrying.
From my point of view, someone who can’t handle the very modest amount of discussion that does occur on the subject isn’t really ready to handle a candid discussion about self-defense against pit bulls.
Proportional self-defense against deadly threats is a fundamental right. Grown-ups protecting their children and grandchildren against deadly threats is a fundamental responsibility.
Either a person recognizes the harsh reality of pit bulls in our communities, or they do not recognize the harsh reality & instead prefer to take options of legal self-defense off the table because “icky” or “scares me.”
And so this comment thread doesn’t get hijacked with one person’s obsession with guns —
— let me say that what happened to Lorena Cordova is an outrage. My sincerest condolences to her family. No one should suffer what she did, and no one should lose a loved one the way her family lost her. Horrible. Just horrible. I’m glad the dogs were euthanized so they can’t fo this to anyone else. I look at the photo of the victim and can’t help but notice her lovely smile and that little child in her arms. The love and joy expressed by the two people in that photo was what is right with the world. The suffering and agony in which her life was cut short is what is wrong with the world. RIP Lorena.
The news stories I watched would only refer to them as “dogs” or “canines.” This is the fear of recrimination instilled even in the media about naming PIT BULLS. This poor soul. God bless her and her family. So sad and so preventable.
This is the same old story of clueless owners who refuse to acknowledge what is right in front of their face.
The dog is showing every sign of aggression and comes from a breed infamous for mauling but somehow, they think Fluffykins is not a threat. They don’t call a trainer specializing in aggression, they don’t practice safety protocols and they do nothing to protect their pet, that they claim to love, from its own worst instincts.
When the behaviour becomes more than they can handle, they don’t do the honorable thing and euthanize the dog.
And now, this lovely woman has suffered for months and died over it. Her relations are grieving, her community is grieving and the Pitbull nutters just keep rolling along, just as clueless as the owners of this dog.
This breed along with breeds that have been overbred to the point of chronic illness, needs to be extinct. Pitbulls *are* bred to purpose…that purpose being to kill other dogs, small prey and humans.
That purpose is legally extinct and the dogs need to go with it.
BSL is supposed to be a slow method of this that doesn’t punish dogs that don’t exhibit their characteristic traits. Unfortunately, it isn’t everywhere and where it is, there often isn’t adequate enforcement.
I’m out of answers.
Quote snip: “…they think Fluffykins is not a threat. …”
Today is December 11th. It looks like 30 days since the last fatal mauling? Not including unreported fatal maulings. Maybe only two thousand reconstructive surgeries, or possibly three thousand reconstructive surgeries needed in the past 30 days due to severe maulings. Maybe only a hundred thousand emergency room visits in the past 30 days caused by dangerous animals chosen as pets. Just in one country.
Too many people who have selected dangerous animals as pets think that their pet animal could never deliver severe injury to anyone.
“I’m out of answers”. I have some. All dangerous animals that are legal to acquire as pets should have non-removable warning labels. Five gallon buckets and plastic wrap have warning labels, but dangerous animals that cause woe and misery and death do not? A large tag required by law to be affixed to neck collar at all times could save untold massive annual toll of woe and misery.
How about mandatory transponding microchip requirement? Smartphone app that notifies of proximity to dangerous animals would be a blessing.
Training requirement. Background check. I have lots of answers for the reasonable control and reduction and elimination of dangerous animals from our civilized society. If dogs are sometimes unpredictable dangerous animals, then federal law should adequately reflect the real risk of severe threat that they pose, and also reflect the massive harm that they inflict on society.
I have never been interested in gun ownership, but when I walk by sleeping homeless people and their pitbulls raise their head and stare at me, when I walk in public places among pits frolicking off leash who give me a second look, when I walk down a street and see the square ugly head of a pit forcing its way through a hole in the fence and glaring at me-I wish I was armed. I will at least invest in some bear spray.
I lived most of my life without feeling a need for a gun, but it was concern for the safety of my little dogs in pit infested neighborhood that finally motivated me to get a gun and a concealed carry permit.