Multiple media are now reporting the death Robert Holguin, killed by three "mastiff breeds" in Oakland.
Dog Owner Charged
Oakland, CA - On September 1, a 53-year old man was killed by three loose dogs. On September 5, Brendan Thomas Burke, 57, was charged with a felony under the California statute for failing to secure his dogs resulting in death. Burke is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He was arraigned this morning. The victim, whose name had been withheld pending family notification, was a friend of Burke. The attack occurred in the 1600 block of 36th Avenue, where Burke's home is located.
Burke was running an errand when his three "mastiff breeds" got loose from his property and killed the man, who had attempted to hide under a vehicle, authorities said. All three dogs were turned over to animal control. There were no media reports about this vicious attack when it occurred. A 53-year old man trying to escape three large "mastiff breeds" by trying to hide under a vehicle on a residential street in the Fruitvale area only to not succeed and be mauled to death by three terrifying dogs.
The California statute -- and the subsequent speedy charges filed after the attack -- indicate at least one of the dogs had a previous bite record, and the owner failed to properly secure the dog(s). At least one of the dogs may have already had a legal designation too, such as being declared "potentially dangerous" or "dangerous" after a previous attack. Meaning, there will be considerable ease for prosecutors to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt" the owner knew the dog's dangerous propensities.
"(a) If any person owning or having custody or control of a mischievous animal, knowing its propensities, willfully suffers it to go at large, or keeps it without ordinary care, and the animal, while so at large, or while not kept with ordinary care, kills any human being who has taken all the precautions that the circumstances permitted, or which a reasonable person would ordinarily take in the same situation, is guilty of a felony."
Victim's Identity Released
The victim has been identified as Robert Holguin, 53. Around 12:20 pm Sunday, while Burke was running an errand, his three "mastiff breeds" got through a hole in his fence and attacked Holguin, who tried to hide under a vehicle. Holguin had been working on a car in a nearby driveway when the dogs attacked him, mauling his legs, arms and head, according to court documents. A person who witnessed the attack grabbed a pipe and started beating the dogs, but Holguin died at the scene.
On Thursday, authorities said the three dogs involved in the fatal attack -- two females and one male -- had been euthanized.
The three dogs are described as "half-cane corso" and half-Neapolitan mastiff; each weighing 100 pounds. Court documents state the dogs did not listen to commands and had a history of "discipline issues." Animal control officers also said the dogs had a history of escaping from Burke's yard, including one day before the fatal attack. In that instance, Burke was able to corral them back into his yard before they could harm anyone. He then blocked the hole with a dog fence and cinder blocks.
Victim was Homeless
KTVU spoke to the victim's brother, Alex Holguin, who said he visited him just three weeks ago. He said he never imagined his brother would die this way. Alex lives out of state. He said his brother was homeless and living out of his car. There were six dogs on the property. At least three were cane corso-Neapolitan mastiff mixes that broke through the fence and killed his brother. Those three dogs have been euthanized and the other three dogs were confiscated by Oakland Animal Services.
Alex said his brother suffered from mental illness, which led to drug addiction. He had served time in prison for drug-related offenses, and ultimately began experiencing homelessness. He also called his brother a "street preacher." Alex offered a message to the owner of the dogs. "You're now serving, being held accountable like anybody should be that breaks the rules." He added, "We don't know you. We are merciful. We are forgiving. We are Christian." Burke is being held at the Santa Rita Jail.
The dogs got through the rickety fence, pinned Robert Holguin under a car and killed him.
Front of dog owner's home and a mastiff breed on the property after the fatal dog attack.
Related articles:
08/14/24: 2024 Dog Bite Fatality: Husky Blamed for Deadly Dog Bite to Homeless Man in Fresno
08/09/24: 2024 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Killed by Great Danes, in Butte County, California
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.
Good they should charged him with a crime .he dogs kill someone. I’m glad he didn’t get off Scott free.
I know someone who lives a block away, have been to his house a couple of times. Brendan Thomas Burke made a bad decision to own those dogs, his friend paid with his life and he’s facing legal difficulties. If we had proper laws limiting ownership of dangerous breeds of dogs, we could prevent death and misery.
Mastiffs were not bred to be PET animals, they were designed to be weapons. We need laws that designate improved standards of containment and insurance, and responsibility for these types of animals.
Glad he’s getting the book thrown at him. Jail time is well warranted.
‘history of “discipline issues.”‘
What sort of nonsense phrasing, is that?
The dogs were either under voice control and trained or were not.
The dogs either acted aggressively on previous occasions or they did not.
They either escaped the yard on previous occasions or they did not.
They aren’t teenagers refusing to do a homework assignment. They’re dogs.
Talking about dogs as if they are children who can be given leeway to endanger the public by acting in an aggressive manner is one of the reasons we’re in this mess.
I know what you mean. From another article: “Burke, whose dogs had escaped from his yard a day prior, admitted that the dogs do not respond to commands.”
So this fool wanted war dogs that weren’t going to be used in a war then didn’t train them to even a basic level that a six-year-old could manage.
Then stands around stunned that his war dogs ate somebody.
Sure, everyone, let’s all go out and buy furry tanks when we don’t know how to drive.
That’ll turn out well, surely.
I wish I could understand the reason to keep these types of dogs. The Neopolitan mastiff is a very large, short lived breed. The lifespan on that breed has been listed as five to six years. Why keep dogs that kill?
They saw a movie. Disney, likely.
Dog movies/tv aren’t doing dogs any favours. Look at all the people with zero understanding of sled dogs buy huskies because they look like movie dogs.
Dogs are not Lassie. They aren’t Call of the Wild. CGI is making the situation, worse.
At least when people like Eisenmann and Kohler trained Hollywood dogs–the dogs *could* actually follow instructions and while editing played a large part–dogs can actually be trained to carry things, bark for attention, jump off and on set pieces and follow basic commands, grab a bad guy, limp or crawl.
The old saw was it would cost you twice as much to use a dog in a film because it only hit its mark, half the time.
Now they just CGI in a bunch of dog stunts or actions.
We suspected this, “Alex Holguin, the victim’s brother, lives out of state. He said his 52-year-old brother was homeless and living out of his car. ” https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-fatal-dog-attack-brendan-burke-charged
I don’t want to be untactful but it occurred to me that without your constant vigilance to make these victims known that few dog attacks would ever come to light. Especially not on a national/international level. So if you don’t mind my asking will this website be maintained once you are unable to for whatever reason? I’ve noticed others have just stopped posting and I have to say your proving a unique service that would be a tragedy to lose! So if you haven’t already made plans for this site to be maintained I would hope that you will make sure it will continue for a long time after the majority of your current readers and supporters have long been gone! I’m not trying to be morbid so I hope this hasn’t offended you but I’ve recently realized from my own experience that all of our lives are finite!
Being homeless is not a crime, but this homeless person got his life ended by dogs
because the dogs’ owner chose to have very large, untrained, unconfined, dangerous, uncontrollable dogs.
I wonder if he also bred them. He needs to have a very long jail sentence, as he ended this man’s life using a weapon – his dogs.
He had six of them; so, he probably was breeding them. Also, they are allegedly cross breeds — usually, these two breeds are pure. One would have to want a “certain outcome” to cross a pure bred cane corso with a pure breed Neapolitan mastiff. I ran some searches, and I could not find any kennel crossing these two breeds and selling the puppies. Of course, ever since the days of the Diane Whipple case (2001, presa canarios), California breeders have been crossing large “war dog” mastiffs for larger and more ferocious outcomes. The Neo is used by many XL bully breeders to produce larger heads, bigger bones, weight, etc.
There’s a limit to the number of total animals that you can legally have, which in Alameda county is 3 dogs over 4 months old which must be vaccinated for rabies and licensed by the county. If you don’t have proof of being fixed the city/ county license is extremely expensive and then of course they wouldn’t have let him register all the dogs he owned! I don’t think the homeless/ housed state of this person would have mattered. There are so many homeless people in the whole Bay area that it’s seems as many people have a place to live as don’t! Also seems that most homeless people have at least one pit bull to beg with them! Not that I am unsympathetic to the homeless but it would be nice if they didn’t have all the pit bulls they are probably getting free courtesy of the Oakland SF humane society! They were recently appealing to the public for “foster parents” to save more of the massive number of pit bulls they already can’t get rid of!