Dog Owners Face Multiple Felony Charges After Multi-Victim Attack
A pair of pit bulls killed Helene Jackson and seriously injured a 53-year old man.
Dog Owners Charged
UPDATE 08/14/23: After a woman was killed by a pair of pit bulls and a man critically injured by the dogs in Sierra Vista in June, the owners are now facing five charges. Shimira and Ashlee Sanches each face charges of felony manslaughter, felony negligent homicide, assault by vicious animals, also a felony, and two aggressive dog violation charges in connection to the death of 84-year old Helene Jackson and the critical injuries of 53-year old Samuel Sanches on June 23.
The multi-victim attack occurred as Jackson and her dog, Lily, were walking in an alley between Meadowlark Drive and Calle Del Norte at about 6:00 pm. It is alleged that one of the pit bulls jumped over the owners' cinderblock wall to attack Jackson and her dog. Jackson was transported to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries. Lily was discovered dead in the alley. Samuel was seriously injured by a second pit bull belonging to the owners while trying to help Jackson.
The current medical condition of Samuel Sanches is unknown. It is also unknown he is related to either owner, who share his same last name. We were able to locate two previous pit bulls owned by Shimira on her Facebook page, but not current ones. Online court records show the charges were filed on August 10, and a grand jury summons was issued on August 11. Both will be arraigned on September 5 in the Division IV courtroom with Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson.
06/25/23: Dog Kills One, Injures Another
Sierra Vista, AZ - On Friday, at least one pit bull critically injured a 53-year old man and killed an 84-year old woman and her small dog. The Sierra Vista Police Department (SVPD) responded to the 600 block of Calle Del Norte around 6:00 pm after reports of a dog attack in the alley between Calle Del Norte and Meadowlark. When officers arrived, they found a dog attacking Sam Sanches Jr., 53, in the backyard of his home. Officers shot and killed that dog to render aid to Sanches.
Officers then found Helene Jackson, 84, mortally wounded in the alley behind the home, "as a second dog returned to the same yard where the first attack occurred," states the release. Officers shot and killed the second dog too. Jackson was taken to Canyon Vista Medical Center, where she died of her injuries Friday night. Jackson's own dog was found dead in the alley near where she was located. The three dog carcasses were transported to Sierra Vista Animal Control.
SVPD PRESS RELEASE (June 24, 2023): Dog attack leaves one Sierra Vista resident dead, another seriously injured
On Friday, June 23, the Sierra Vista Police Department responded to the area of Calle Del Norte after a 911 caller reported a dog attack in the alley between Meadowlark Drive and Calle Del Norte.
Officers arrived on the scene and found a dog attacking a male victim in the backyard of a residence on Calle Del Norte. Officers dispatched the dog and provided first aid to the victim until emergency medical assistance arrived. A second female victim was found in the alley behind the residence as a second dog returned to the same yard where the first attack occurred. The second dog was also dispatched by SVPD officers.
Helene Jackson, an 84-year-old Sierra Vista resident, was transported to the Canyon Vista Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries Friday night. Her dog was found deceased in the alley near where she was located.
Sam Sanches Jr., a 53-year-old Sierra Vista resident, was transported to Banner Medical Center in Tucson where he remains in critical condition from his injuries.
The three deceased dogs were secured by the Sierra Vista Police Department’s Animal Control Office pending further investigation.
This is an active investigation and anyone with information relevant to this incident is asked to contact SVPD Detective Thomas P. Ransford at (520) 452-7500.
On Saturday, the Arizona Daily Independent reported that Jackson and her small dog Lily were taking a stroll in a residential alley when a pit bull "jumped a cinderblock wall-styled fence of a nearby home" and attacked them both, ultimately killing them both. Jackson sustained multiple traumatic injuries to her limbs, neck and face. She died shortly after reaching the hospital. Sanches resides in the home from where the pit bull jumped from, but apparently he is not the dogs' owner.
The role of the second dog, also described by witnesses as a pit bull, in this multi-victim attack is less clear, though police shot and killed it to stop it from entering the backyard, the first attack site. According to neighbors, a dog from the same home was involved in an injury attack earlier this year but it is unknown if that attack was reported to police. The owner(s) of the attacking dogs is apparently cooperating with the investigation being led by SVPD Detective Thomas Ransford.
The approximate location of the fatal dog mauling of Helene Jackson in the alleyway. Sierra Vista Live captured dramatic images of first responders at the scene, as well as the alley.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Arizona Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
05/04/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Dog Kills Infant, Critically Injures Grandmother in Iowa
03/10/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Mauling in San Antonio Kills One, Hospitalizes Two
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.
Are people trying to let their dogs kill as many people as possible? Will people eventually get so used to the killings that no one will care anymore? Or will
people stop breeding pitbulls and figure out that pitbulls can and will kill people?
A friend in doggy school told me she crated every one of her dogs if a baby or young child came over. Yet I don’t think any of her dogs were dangerous.
Maybe pitbull owners are stupid and careless. I like my dogs too much to allow an attack. Attacking dogs are usually euthanized.
Owning a dog that may very well hurt someone is a stupid and careless thing to do.
Yes, they are trying to normalize death by supposedly domesticated dogs. When I posted on my small town’s fb group about a loose pitbull menacing me while I was walking with my dog, people went ballistic. A few were supportive but many were not. I was called an idiot and told “pitbulls aren’t aggressive”. When I presented statistics, one said “That’s only feral pitbulls” and another said “Deer kill more people”. They absolutely want to normalize it – when a pit kills a baby, they’ll say “Well, a dog of ANY breed should never be left alone with a child” (even though often the baby isn’t even alone with the dog), as though killing a child if the dog is not hovered over at every moment is normal domesticated dog behavior. Makes me furious.
Those weren’t “people”. This is spiritual in nature and an evil force is working through all of those minds and typing fingers.
Truth is attacked in this matrix by all the agents working for the evil one.
I’m so tired of it ALWAYS being pitbulls, because let’s be honest it is 90% of the time. I’m tired of hearing it’s not the breed it’s how they’re raised, that’s not true. Just like human genetics are carried down, animals are no different than humans with predictable genetic disorders aggression being one. I remember not too long ago the founder of a pitbill group was mauled to death here in AZ by his own pitbulls. Enough is enough and people need to open their eyes to this breed.
People today accept killer dogs. “They were abused.”
How is any dog more important than a baby? Years ago farmers shot aggressive dogs. Pitbulls wouldn’t have survived. Many if not most Americans don’t want to hear of pitbulls killing people. Just sweep it under the rug.
What was the name of the pitbull-group founder who was mauled to death?
Darla Napora. ISTR that the organization was called Bad Rap.
Well, sometimes there is confusion about which state and which victim. In Arizona, a woman who rescued Akitas was killed by a rescue Akita. She worked with Akita Advocates Relocation Team Arizona (AARTA). That could be what the person was referring to. https://blog.dogsbite.org/2017/12/2017-dog-bite-fatality-rescue-dog-kills.html
As tragic as this case is, I think that it’s a good thing that it happened in Cochise County rather than here in Pima County, Arizona.
Why am I saying such a thing?
Because Cochise is a much more rural county than Pima, and in rural counties, unruly animals get put down all the time.
Over here in Pima, if the police had shot the dogs dead, there would have been a huge public outcry. To the point where our local animal rights mafia would be doxxing those officers.
After all, we wouldn’t want to hurt the poor widdle doggie woggies, now would we? I mean, come on, they were just trying to play and they didn’t mean to harm anyone.
So, why not guide them gently off to the $22 million Pima Animal Care Center and adopt them out to some other loving fur-ever home?
(Sarcasm off.)
Sheesh in what three days pitbull killed at least four people already.there was a story where a mom had a baby daughter and a pitbull pupppy she left her daughter unattended and her puppy chew off her finger.and the pro pitbull was like saying it not the pitbull fault the puppy is chewing that puppies are in a chewing phase,no matter what you tell them they will never accept that pitbull are dangerous dogs.
I, too, saw the story about the pitbull pup chewing off the infant’s fingers. Horrifying! We are now normalizing death by dog, and giving a baby a disability for the rest of her life. The same old crap is spewed about not leaving ANY dog alone with a child. In videos of pitbull puppies “playing” they’re often going for blood. I detest these dogs, and I’m seeing more and more of them. They’re truly repulsive with their dead eyes.
Teresa, we are indeed being inundated with pit bulls and the culture around these dogs allows open season on anyone who speaks out about the damage inflicted by these dogs.
I recently had surgery and my surgeon could not stop gushing about his pit bulls. He is a plastic surgeon. Certainly he has seen the damage inflicted by these monsters or has colleagues who have been affected.
How do we stop this madness?
I am a veterinarian and struggle with policy as to when and how to see these “dogs”. We constantly deal with people and rescues who lie and call their dog a “boxer” or “lab” or “hound”. It is a joke. We will change the breed on the records to reflect pit bull if we visually identify it as such. People flip out and their anger is palpable. We fire clients who do not spay or neuter their pit bulls, or refuse service if they are intact. I would like to see them spayed and neutered out of existence. Seems like an uphill battle. The rescues are pushing these dogs out the doors in appalling numbers and stand by these dogs like a cult guards their leader. Truthfully, 60-80 % of dogs entering shelters now should be euthanized due to behavioral problems and being pits and pit crosses.
I will always put a child over a dog. Where has our sanity gone?
Where has sanity gone? Indeed, Boston.
Out the window, clearly. Nobody used to think of pitbulls as pets. NO. BOD. Y. Only dogfighters owned them. Note that none of them were palming them off as “pets”.
Dogs used to be generally friendly animals that played tag with children, followed old people around hoping something interesting to eat might drop off their lap and fetched balls. They slept on floors and didn’t steal off the kitchen table. Sometimes they were big, small, mutts or purebreds but they were dogs. They didn’t have baskets full of toys and a box of Milkbones was a treat, not an expectation.
People were people, not walking treat dispensers using them for crying towels. There was a relationship of mutual respect and admiration, not some weird belief in “furbabies”.
Nobody tolerated dogs that bit children. Most that did, didn’t survive long enough to breed–thus, most dogs were human-friendly, even the guarding breeds.
Now we have nuts that think “save them all” even when one breed has clearly pulled out in front as an apex predator capable of doing serious damage to our own species.
That’s the height of lunacy.
Thank you for doing what you can, stay safe, you have every right to refuse service to pits for you and your staffs safety.
A vet was just horribly mauled in GA trying to sedate a pit. Please do not risk your or your staff’s safety!
A Sierra Vista community website brings a comprehensive overview of dog attacks in recent years. On this attack, a resident brings up the livability of the area, an important point for the entire state, including tourist travel to Arizona.
The SVPD is fielding calls from across the country regarding this death.
Community outcry over woman mauled to death in dog attack
https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/crime/community-outcry-over-woman-mauled-to-death-in-dog-attack/article_86ba9978-143f-11ee-930e-57f631811f49.html
It would be helpful if you could send this to DogsBite — this article is behind a paywall for us.
I was able to read the entire article via the above link.
YQN, thanks for the feedback. Perhaps you are not hitting a paywall due to being an Arizona resident.
YQN, thanks for the feedback. Perhaps you are not hitting a paywall due to being an Arizona resident.
Colleen, as soon as I sent the link to the blog, it closed on me w a paywall for several tries. Please advise if this works for you and others after I just sent this to your email.
BTW, have you noticed that DBO links are never featured in Google Alerts?
We went quite a while without a death by dog, now it seems we’re making it up. Dogs are one of the reasons I want to retire and go somewhere rural, where I can’t hear the neighbors dogs bark, and if they come onto my property I can dispatch them.
People in rural areas can have dogs get lost. Beagles and coonhounds can get lost hunting. I am in a rural area, and my family’s dog years ago was killed by a pitbull.
What I do is catch the dogs if at all possible and turn them over to Animal Control to take them to the county’s no kill shelter. This gives the owner a chance to claim them. I think the last dog I caught was a cattledog.
I laughed when I was talking to a neighbor and saw a dog there. I said at least I know where he lives. I’d sent him to doggy jail once, but other folks had sent him twice. He was a small harmless dog.
I have no tolerance for loose pitbulls.
I’ve had umpteen people try to get me to board them. I don’t deal with pitbull dogs or their owners.
This exemplifies why people who choose to own bloodsport dogs should have the same insurance and containment criteria as people who own bears or tigers.
I think the time is right for the national media to get involved by having a major network produce a segment or investigative report on the current public health crisis this country is in with the overabundance of this extremely dangerous killer canine breed, the pit bull. I guarantee it would have huge viewer ratings. It would be controversial as pit bull lovers are a cult of sort and nothing is going to get them to change their minds. What it may accomplish however is to educate those who have no knowledge of the danger of pit bulls and may literally save lives. Personally I always knew pitbulls were viscous animals but until I stumbled on to this website, I had no idea of the magnitude of the problem. The vast majority of Americans have no idea either. Until the story is told on a nationwide television prime time news story, the killing and maiming of humans by pitbulls will continue and increase exponentially. How do we get this to happen?
Eddie Jay, As a broadcast journalist I have tried repeatedly to get 60 Minutes or 20/20 to cover this issue. And, you’re right, it very controversial. The only national show that will even touch this subject is Inside Edition. Last year, I really thought when the two children in Tennessee was mauled to death by their “family” pit bulls (and their mother gravely injured) that that story would be covered far and wide. The New York Post and some London newspapers went fairly deep. But no big national TV coverage. Why? Follow the money; the behemoth pet industry that advertises heavily on the networks, the heavily funded Humane Society and the ASPCA. Yes, it’s despicable. I honestly don’t know what it will take to educate the public to the threat from these bloodsport mutants. As you know, the shelters pose these killers in party hats and rabbit ears. People are duped into thinking a dog is a dog is a dog. The dog sitter who was mauled by 2 dogs (one a pit mix) and faces a life of misery is still appearing on national TV, recently on Dr. Phil. Judge Judy is also a pit hater. I love it when she reams out pit owners. Colleen Lynn is an incredible investigative journalist with a lot of guts. More and more people are becoming aware of this site, not enough…but there’s some hope the message will be heard.
Heavily funded Humane Society and the ASPCA? Well, what is the source that funding?
Are the funds just falling out of the sky? Is it being unearthed like buried treasure?
I didn’t think so.
Instead, these organizations are being funded by people who are donating their hard-earned money.
Want to dry up that source of funding? Well, that’s easy. STOP donating!
I wish that was only who was funding these people, Quiet–it would be so much easier.
But…buy a bag of dog food and they send a portion of your money to this organization or that one. Buy a dog toy and 10% goes to some pitbull saving shelter. The list is endless. The pet industry is supporting these cultists and sadly, pet owners have no way to stop this egregious use of their money because we all need that bag of kibble once a month.
The amount given by your sad, cat-loving granny is nothing compared to the kind of money being shoveled into this nonsense by billionaires and corporations.
What’s completely absurd is that while the average pet owner buys say, a mid-cost pet food that’s supporting all this insanity, pitbull owners overwhelmingly buy the cheapest no-name cancer-causing corn-stuffed kibble from the grocery store.
As for all the mainstream media, well there’s a pantload of non-mainstream media right now that gets far more eyeballs on it than legacy media. It’s some of those channels that may eventually be able to get the word out–except for them, it means being harassed and their channels silenced by the pitbull lobby cultists when they have bigger political fish to fry.
All we can do is that this becomes controversial enough for them to start covering it, in depth, at some point.
Boni, thank you for that info, I did not know the pet companies were doing this, it makes total sense though.
Why wouldn’t the pet industry be a major funder?
I mean, come on. Think of the virtue signaling! Especially from being publicly associated with RESCUE groups!
Add in every clout-chasing celebrity and idiot influencer shilling on TikTok.
They don’t even know what’s in their lipstick but by the Doggess, they are sterling professionals on how misunderstood pitbulls, are.
First class ticket to “saving the victim” status. Only the victim is an apex predator.
The more pit bulls are sold to irresponsible people, the more dangerous the world is getting. I don’t go out for walks any more. I would rather die of a heart attack than to be mauled to death by a dog.
This post has been updated to show that charges have been filed.
Thankfully the prosecutor was able to put together a criminal case against the owners. We definitely need to see more of these cases to shake up the pit bull advocacy community.