Police suspect a fatal dog mauling after man was found dead in his garage with multiple dog bites.
Dog Mauling Suspected
Kendall, FL - A man was discovered dead in his home with multiple bite marks. Miami-Dade police suspect he was killed by his own dog. Around 7:07 pm, police and animal control were dispatched to a home in the 12000 block of Southwest 104th Terrace. Police were alerted by a friend of the victim, who had not heard from him since Sunday. When the friend came to his home Tuesday to check on him, he found him dead inside the garage. Miami-Dade animal control officers impounded the dog.
Officials do not know when the attack occurred. "It's hard to tell between Sunday and now when this occurred. Did it occur this morning? Did it occur yesterday," asked Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta. "We don't know," he said. A friend and police described the dog as a "mixed-breed," which could mean anything, including a bull breed-mix, such as an American bully. "Regardless of the breed of the dog, this is a very unfortunate circumstance," detective Andre Martin said Tuesday.
“The victim was suffering from numerous dog bites.” - Detective Andre Martin
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death. Police identified the victim as 29-year old Alexander Andres Torres. On Wednesday, neighbors and family members grieved his loss. He was described as a good person, who faced medical challenges that affected his mobility. A family member said Torres has owned the dog for several years. Neighbors described the dog as a medium to large-sized mixed-breed that sometimes got loose but had never harmed anyone.
An update to the WTVJ article now states the dog has been identified as a "terrier-mix" by Miami-Dade County Animal Services (MDAS). Historically, due to the longstanding pit bull ban (which was nullified in October 2023) MDAS has called pit bulls and pit bull-mixes either an American bulldog-mix or a terrier-mix. Torres' death is the first fatal dog mauling in the county since the Miami-Dade pit bull ban was nullified. No images of the dog involved were captured by local media outlets at the scene.
Pit Bull-Mix "Kobe"
The most recent (2022) and featured dog on Torres' Facebook page is a large male pit bull-mix, "Kobe." Posts show that Torres acquired the dog in April 2016 when Kobe was a puppy, indicating the dog was 7-years old. During 2016, he also acquired a pit bull. In July of 2019, he rehomed that dog. "I can longer keep him and don’t want him to go to a shelter," he wrote. Once again, we see an omission by authorities of the predominant bull breed within the "mixed-breed" or "terrier-mix" designations.
The suspected dog involved is a large male pit bull-mix named "Kobe."
A 29-year old man was found dead in his garage on Southwest 104th Terrace in Kendall.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Florida Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
11/12/32: Suspected Dog Bite Fatality: Man's Death in Springfield Continues to be Under Investigation
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.
Back in the good ole days, a terrier mix was a small to medium dog that was wire-haired with whiskers that stuck out. They resembled dogs like Schnauzers, Wire-haired terriers, Westies, etc. Today a terrier mix is a pitbull mix. The world has changed. I hope this dog was not a SD or ESA. I hope this man was not one with a seizure disorder that had a pitty or bully.
At any rate, a man has lost his life to his dog. What breed of dog is the Number one killer of its owner? Clue. It’s not a Chihuahua.
Yeap 🙁 No shortage of photos of his brindle Bully Kobe on his fb page.
Neighbors were saying the dog frequently got loose and they’d help bring it back to his house a it’s a male Brown brindle and white so-called terrier mix we all know what kind of terrier mix it is. Animal services doesn’t want to talk about the dog until after the investigation.
Exactly what I mean by “training flaw” right there.
When was the last time you heard of a guide dog, running off?
That’s right–you don’t.
Why? Because you can accidentally drop the lead in a park with fifteen other loose dogs and if you yell “come” the dog will return. You can tell it to “down” somewhere and it will not move a paw for at least half an hour.
I’ve never heard, ever of a pitbull having the ability to “down” for half an hour with massive distractions all around. Never seen it, either.
Actual well-bred working dogs can do this and they can do it before they are even, fully-grown, adults.
Pitbulls are not temperamentally suited to be trained as any kind of service dog, period.
Neither are chihuahuas but nobody worries about that for Captain Obvious, reasons.
Speaking of “mixes” , did anyone else see the “border collie mix” that was featured on The Price Is Right yesterday?
Get real! CBS, Drew Carey, Adam Sandler, Rachel Reynolds, George Gray , and every person affiliated with that show SHOULD be embarrassed and ashamed.
I don’t care how much money you pay me I would have walked off that set and broke my contract and let them sue me but I would have not been involved with that production ever again. People need to draw lines and stop being complacent about things like this.
Clearly, the dog being sold as a “border collie mix” on PIR is a pit bull. Sadly, I found myself wishing it would have bitten Drew Carey, but of course, that would never have been aired. Please reach out to their people at 800-852-8909 to register your displeasure at the misrepresentation of a breed that kills one American on average of every two weeks.
Once again someone is dead because Miami Dade country refuse to enforce the bully ban on the books.
I hope his family sues them. Someone needs to start.
I believe the Miami pit bull restriction was vacated at the state level back in July or August of this year. He took ownership of the dog prior to that, so he was definitely in violation of the law when it was in effect.
I don’t know how something like this would be handled. Its an interesting legal question.
So I guess it was pointless to have the pit bull ban in the first place, you can just call the pit mix a “ terrier “ and viola! You get to keep your mauler! In any case, I’m glad it was the adult owner and not a neighbor, child or grandma.
Chalk one up for Pitbull Cult Propaganda and Profit Brigade…I guess /s
It doesn’t matter if a person is physically fit or disabled, no one should own a bloodsport, fighting dog. There are many cases of healthy, able-bodied, grown men (and women)being savagely mauled to death by pitbulls and pit mixes. Those savages are tenacious and are oblivious to pain. Fists, shovels, axes,knives and guns often cannot stop them during an attack. If the savages bite a person in the carotid, brachial or femoral arteries, it’s sure to result in death. Sometimes it’s just the sheer amount of ripping, shredding and bites that cause a person to bleed out. Exsanguination from multiple bites is a slow, horrible way to die. My dear Aunt Jill was savaged and torn apart, bitten from head to toe, scalped and left with one arm barely attached. She was still alive when her sister came back from town and found her. She was able to tell EMT’s her name and told them that she was cold. She most likely would have died almost immediately if the six dogs were bloodsport, fighting dogs, instead of six medium sized mutts. Dog culture is out of control. No one should have that many dogs and no one should own bloodsport, fighting dogs. It’s disgusting and often ends with innocent people and pets suffering an unimaginable, agonizing and brutal death.
If I hear certain kind of dogs regularly kills its owner, WAY more than any other kind of dog… I don’t think I’d live with that type of dog. People are stupid. Thankfully it wasn’t a neighbor or a kid.
If I hear a certain kind of dog regularly kills its owner, WAY more than any other kind of dog… I don’t think I’d live with that type of dog in my home. People are stupid. Thankfully it wasn’t a neighbor or a kid this time.
Are his ears cropped? If so, he is probably from breeders who bred for fighting dogs.
Shame that even in his fragile condition he wasn’t smart enough to get a dog that wasn’t a fatality waiting to happen.
The breed was designed to include these personality and behavioral traits:
Unpredictability
Very high pain threshold
Sense weaknesses (babies elderly injured sick etc.)
Attack with no trigger necessary
There are others but just 1 of any of these traits is enough reason to ban
And something to keep in mind: you cannot train bred traits out of a dog. That is why it doesn’t matter how you raise or attempt to train a dog with any pitbull DNA in it.
It’s really that simple.
And no you cannot train a border collie not to herd. You can tweak and hone the way you want them to do a job.If you throw a border collie into the wild it will eve tally herd something (that is a fact)
I just can not conjure up any sympathy when an owner gets killed when his or her canine booby trap goes off.
At this point you have to make the choice to be willfully ignorant of the fact that pits are killers.
You can ignore reality but you can not ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.