By EMILY MASTERS
Associated Press
RALEIGH, NC (AP) — Authorities say a pit bull has mauled to death a 6-year-old boy who apparently climbed over a fence to get into a neighbor’s yard in western North Carolina.
The Henderson County sheriff’s office was called to a residence in Hendersonville, south of Asheville, on Tuesday afternoon. Spokesman Maj. Frank Stout says the 1-year-old male pit bull there was so aggressive officers had to shoot it so emergency workers could get to the child.
Stout says the boy, Joshua Phillip Strother, died at the scene from wounds to his head and neck.
The boy’s mother, Amanda Strother, called 911 and told the dispatcher she had gone to the bathroom and lost sight of the boy for five to 10 minutes and then was unable to get into the neighbor’s yard where he had been attacked.
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