Posted on April 6, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Killed by Two Pit Bulls Habituating a Boarded-Up Vacant Detroit Building

Daniel Bonacorsi, 58, was killed by a pair of pit bulls inside a boarded-up vacant Detroit building.

Man Killed by Pit Bulls
Detroit, MI - A 58-year old man was discovered dead inside a boarded-up vacant building on Tuesday. Police believe the man was attacked and killed by two pit bulls being kept in the building. The man was found around 1:30 pm inside an expansive vacant building in the 5400 block of West Fourth Street. According to Detroit police Cpl. Dan Donakowski, the man had entered the building with another person. Both pit bulls were captured by Detroit Animal Care and Control Division.

Police later clarified the other man did not get attacked by the dogs. "There was another person along with him that did not get attacked," Donakowski said. Police are unsure "if he was actually at the scene at the time that the male was attacked, but he was near the location." Police also said that both men had been trying to help the dogs when the two pit bulls attacked one of the men. Surprisingly, both dogs were fully licensed and vaccinated indicating the dogs have an owner.

Detroit Free Press reports that the building was under renovation and confirmed the dogs were owned, licensed, vaccinated and secured by the property owner, according to John Roach, director of media relations for the city of Detroit. WDIV-TV interviewed Gordon Compton, who lives nearby. Compton said a woman escaped the same fate a few weeks earlier as she tried to feed the dogs. The dogs also ran loose in the area. Nearby residents want the building torn down.

Fox 2 Detroit reports that another suspicious death occurred at this building on September 7, 2022. Detroit police were dispatched to the same building after a man apparently broke in and was discovered dead. Police said the dogs had come in contact with the man, but his cause of death is still undetermined. The Wayne County Medical Examiner said "there are external findings that require further interpretation." The building's manager would not comment to the reporter.

There are several cases where the same dogs killed a human being, and for a variety of reasons -- such as police did not initially suspect the dogs as the culprits or authorities were forced to release the dogs back to their owner -- and the dogs killed a second person. The most recent case involves the 2018 conviction of Eric Hodges in Benton County, Mississippi. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison after his pack of pit bulls killed two different men over a 10-week period.

The Dog's Owner

On Wednesday, a Detroit man named Dustin Shepherd stated in a Facebook post that he owned the two pit bulls. "They got my dogs I will be getting them back the guy broke into the building and my dogs felt threatened and protected their home," he wrote. In the post, he links to the WXYZ report. Shepherd added in comments, "I got two lawyers on it they are going to save my dogs." That sounds more like the September 7 incident, when an intruder did break into the building.

On March 27 Shepherd posted that he licensed and vaccinated his dogs. According to Shepherd, his male pit bull weighed 66-pounds and the female weighed 65-pounds. On November 6, 2022 Shepherd took both of his dogs for a walk and passed by the same building (@ 5:14) at 5435 West Fort Street, known as, "The Works." One year earlier, Shepherd posted that I "got my boy out of jail," referring to his male pit bull, that he had retrieved from the Taylor Animal Shelter.

In the November video, as he walks by the building, Shepherd states, "We're not going home, we're going to keep walking. Don't worry..."

Finally, after his two pit bulls killed Daniel Bonacorsi on April 4, 2023, Shepherd posted to social media, "It happened again my boy DeNiro got another body two guys broke into the building today and my dogs felt threatened so one of the two guys did not make it out." That post has since been removed. Perhaps, that's not a good thing to brag about if Shepherd desperately wants his double man killing pit bulls returned to him (so the dogs can kill a third individual). Seriously. Detroit.

Killed by pit bulls vacant Detroit building

Dustin Shepherd said after his two pit bulls killed a man on April 4, "It happened again."

On March 27, Dustin Shepherd said that he licensed and vaccinated both of his pit bulls.

On November 1, 2021, Shepherd posted that he "got my boy out of jail," referring to his dog.

Graphic Medical study: Pitbull Mauling Deaths in Detroit, by Cheryl L. Loewe MD et al., The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol 28, December 2007.

View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Michigan Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Baseline reporting requirements:
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.

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Child Dies After Being Attacked by Relative's Dog in Frederick County, Maryland

Blake Bettis was killed by a relative's dog while visiting a Frederick County, Maryland home.

Child Killed by Dog
Brunswick, MD - A young boy is dead after being attacked by a relative's dog. Brunswick police and Frederick County responders were dispatched to a home in the 400 block of West B Street at about 5:13 pm Tuesday for a dog attack. Upon arrival, they found a 2-year old boy suffering life-threatening injuries sustained from a dog bite. While treating his injuries, the boy went into cardiac arrest. The boy was airlifted to Frederick Health Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dog Kills Two-Year-Old Boy
Multiple Attempts Made to Save Child

BRUNSWICK, Md. (April 4, 2023) – At approximately 5:13 p.m., today, the Brunswick Police Department (BPD) and the Frederick County Division of Fire & Rescue Services (DFRS) received a call for service of a child in cardiac arrest at the 400 block of West B Street in Brunswick.

Upon arrival, BPD and DFRS found a two-year-old boy suffering from life-threatening injuries sustained from a dog bite.

While treating the child’s life-threatening injuries, he went into cardiac arrest. After exhausting all life-saving measures, Maryland State Police Trooper 3 transported the child, via medivac, to the Frederick Health Hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead shortly after arrival.

The BPD and Frederick County Animal Control are currently conducting a full investigation. BPD made all appropriate next of kin notifications.

The victim and his family are residents of Fauquier County, Virginia. Due to the victim being a child and out of respect for the family, no other identifying information is available.

Per the Frederick County Division of Animal Control, the dog is currently in quarantine. - Frederick County Sheriff's Office

The child and his family, who live in Fauquier County, Virginia, were visiting a relative in Brunswick when the deadly attack occurred, Chief of Brunswick Police Kevin Grunwell said. The child had played with the dog, described as a pit bull-mastiff mix, all day, according to Chief Grunwell. When the boy's family was preparing to leave and say goodbye, the dog attacked the boy inside the home, Grunwell said. The Frederick County Division of Animal Control took custody of the dog.

WUSA reports the dog is now being described as a 145-pound mastiff-pit bull mix. The dog is owned by the boy's grandmother and has played with children in the past, according to family members. The dog has no history of violence. Both police and the family confirmed the boy did not provoke the attack. An investigation is being conducted by Brunswick police and Frederick County Animal Control. The family has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

WUSA also spoke to the child's grandmother, Kimberly Russell, who witnessed the attack. The dog, a male rescue mastiff-pit bull mix named "Cash," has lived with the family for five years, Russell said. The violent attack came without warning in Russell's bedroom when family members were saying goodbyes and giving hugs to each other. Chief Grunwell said that he had seen Cash being walked in the community repeatedly with no issues over his two years as police chief.

NBC Washington spoke to the child's great-aunt, Tammy Crawford, who said it was unclear why the dog attacked the toddler. "He just attacked him, so. And the dog is very lovable too, so we just don’t know what happened," Crawford said. "It’s very heartbreaking. For him to be gone at such a young age, he was such a joy to be around," Crawford said. He was a "very lovable kid, loved his mother, they were like glue, them two together. The dog [and him], they was friends," she said.

The male dog named "Cash" was a rescue and had been living at the home for five years.

The male dog named "Cash" was 84 pounds in June 2020 and described as a "puppy dog."

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Maryland and D.C. Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man, 66, Killed by Rescue Pit Bull After Trying to Break up a Dog Fight in East Tulsa

Don Gibson, 66, was killed by a rescue pit bull after trying to break up a dog fight.

Rescue Dog Kills Man
Tulsa, OK - It was reported Wednesday that a man was hospitalized in critical condition after being attacked by one or more of his rescue pit bulls and later died of his injuries. EMSA responders said there were eight dogs at the scene. Tulsa Animal Control took three of the dogs into custody. The victim's wife then asked to reclaim two of those dogs that she did not believe initiated the attack. Those two dogs were given back to her because this was a "first-party bite," officials said.

KOTV-DT identified the victim as 66-year old Don Gibson and interviewed his wife, Gena Carter. Both Gibson and Carter were trying to break up a fight between two of their pit bulls in their garage when a female pit bull, named "Isabella," viciously redirected onto Don. "Finally I just threw up my hands and said 'let them fight 'till the end,’” Carter told KOTV-DT. “And Don said 'no, no.' And I said, 'Don I got to go get help, look at you.' My garage looked like a slaughterhouse," Carter said.

"What made [Isabella] turn, I have no idea,” Carter said. “It's just all a shock to me. But after I seen what she did to Don, I said ‘no, no more."’

Sgt. Brian Collum of the Tulsa Police Department said the injuries Gibson sustained were a "contributing factor" to his death. "There's absolutely no doubt." Collum also cautioned people who rescue dogs that may have a checkered past. "Try to find out some background, try to find out some other things before you actually take this dog into your home,” Collum said. Carter said her other dogs are "all I got to live for now," but she hopes that people will learn from her story.

The attack occurred at the couple's home in the 18000 block of East 4th Street in the morning, according to media reports. Two of the dogs were put down, Isabella and the primarily black pit bull (presumably). As many as six dogs remain on the property. The fenced-in yard shows multiple dog bowls, but there was an absence of dogs outside during the interview with KOTV-DT. A Google Street view from 2015 shows a black pit bull standing in their yard before it was fenced.

More Dog Information

An update from Fox 23 Tulsa states that "Angel," a pit bull-Lab mix, was the other dog involved in the fight. “Angel came bombarding through the door and Isabella, I guess was already out of her pen, and they got in a fight,” Carter explained. They broke up that fight, but Isabella wasn't done. “She came charging back in the gate to get at Angel and when she found out she couldn’t, is when she went after Don and tore chunks out of his arm, his legs and everything," Carter said.

Both Isabella and Angel were put down. Carter does have six remaining dogs on the property. One of them is a rescued wolf-dog hybrid-akita mix, named "Wolfie," who bears little resemblance to either breed. Just last week, Carter said that Isabella had attacked Wolfie over a bone. Wolfie and Isabella were rescued "years ago." Isabella was not a recently acquired rescue. The couple had been married for 23 years. Gibson used to be the owner of Ralph's Hot & Juicy Burgers.

Location where a man was killed by his rescue pit bull after trying to break up a dog fight.

View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Oklahoma Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Colleen Lynn

2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Killed by Dog at Visalia Business; Occupational Safety and Health Agency Responded

A man was killed by a dog at a Visalia business on South Santa Fe Street.

Man Killed by Dog
Visalia, CA - On Tuesday, the Visalia Police Department issued a media release about a man attacked and killed by a dog. At 7:48 am, police responded to the 2300 block of South Santa Fe Street regarding an adult male attacked by a dog. The man was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. "The Visalia Police Department Violent Crimes Unit responded," states the release. "The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health also responded to the scene."

Police did not release the victim's name or the breed of dog involved. KSEE reported that the business located on South Santa Fe Street is the Jack & Jeff Transfer Company. According to the company's website, the entity has been in business since 1917. It is unknown if the attack occurred inside or outside of the facility or who owns the dog involved. Since the state's occupational safety agency responded to the scene, it seems likely the fatal attack occurred on the business' property.

The property is expansive and has a long roadway leading to the building. A Google Street view from 2019 even shows a dog at the front gate entrance. This fatal dog attack comes two weeks after Mateo Salvador, a 42-year old construction worker from Guatemala, was killed by four guard dogs after entering a home-turned-business property in Jurupa Valley to perform work for the property's owner, Homeland Electric. Salvador's family plans to sue the company, according to Univision.

NOTE: On May 23, 2024, we received a response to our FOIA. The victim was 47-years old and the dog involved was a female pit bull. Dog ownership information was not disclosed per 964 PC.

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: California Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

DogsBite blog ::