GILBERT, Ariz., Sept. 23 (UPI) -- An Arizona toddler was killed and his babysitter injured by three dogs fighting outside a Gilbert, Ariz., home, police said.
The child, 2, saw the dogs fighting Sunday and wandered into the fray, Gilbert police Sgt. Jesse Sanger said. The dogs, each a pit bull mix owned by the babysitter's family, turned on the boy, and began attacking him, Sanger said. When the woman who was babysitting the boy and his four siblings tried to rescue him, the dogs attacked her as well, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday.
Sanger said doctors at Gilbert Mercy Medical Center pronounced the child dead shortly after arrival.
Paramedics transported the babysitter, who has not been charged with a crime or identified, to a different hospital with dog bites and lacerations to her arms and legs.
Four other children in the home -- two 9-year-old boys and two girls, ages 7 and 9 -- were not injured.
Sanger said the three dogs were in the animal control department's custody. A fourth dog, a hound, that also lives at the home, was not taken.
Sanger said the department's investigation into the matter was not complete and added the babysitter could go uncharged "if it's purely just an accident."
