u/Eageryga

The family of a 5-year old girl found dead in their back yard claimed it was a cougar that killed her, despite police having to shoot the dog to get to the girl's body. The family originally described the dog as a Cane Corso, but in the September 26 article linked above, the girl's father confirms it was an Amstaff belonging to a friend. The police took the unnusual step of correcting the family's claims it was a cougar before DNA testing was complete.

DNA testing report here: https://youtube.com/shorts/Q8wt6JNXBMM?si=zXCk7cXL7ObxrtEF

>We’re trying to grieve.’ Sheriff Swank’s posts hurt deceased girl’s family By Peter Talbot Updated September 23, 2026 10:40 AM

>The day the family of a 5-year-old girl killed in Pierce County laid her to rest, they still did not know what happened to their “beautiful” and “sassy” little girl. While they grieved, Sheriff Keith Swank posted his opinion online with a tone of certainty. “I need to set the record straight,” Swank wrote Sept. 12 on X, responding to a post that claimed the girl was killed by a cougar. “The dog, I repeat, the dog killed this poor child. It is very tragic, but it was the dog, not a cougar.” Alice Jo Sandholm Locke’s cause of death had not been confirmed by the Medical Examiner’s Office, and it remained pending Tuesday. In follow-up posts on social media, a commenter asked Swank what the source of his information was. He responded: “My brain.” Swank went on to accuse some members of Alice Jo’s family of spreading lies, and he said he was considering releasing body-camera footage of the dead child. He said he hadn’t shared it because of the trauma it could cause her family and the community. In an interview with The News Tribune on Sept. 17, Alice Jo’s parents, aunt and grandmother explained that they were offended by the sheriff posting what he thought happened to Alice Jo without facts to back him up and without speaking to her mother and father. Josie Locke, the mother of Alice Jo, said the posts were too much. “We haven’t gotten answers,” Locke said. “That’s why we don’t understand why he was able to even talk about it because nothing has come back.” Justice Sandholm, the girl’s father, questioned why Swank chose to weigh in at all. “If his daughter passed away, would he want me posting on there my conspiracy theory about what happened to his daughter without having factual evidence?” Sandholm said. “Or would that man, as a man, be mad and hurt?” Alice Jo’s family emphasized that they don’t know what killed her, but they want people in the Graham area to be aware that there have been confirmed cougar sightings so they know to keep a close eye on children. Locke said law enforcement should not exclude it as a possibility in her daughter’s death investigation. But the family is concerned that’s exactly what has happened. “It could have been the dog, could have been a cougar, could have been anything, but we don’t know,” Locke said. “So at the end of the day, another little kid walks down that road and dies, that would be on him, and that’s wrong.” In a written statement to The News Tribune on Tuesday, Swank defended his posts on X. In his posts, he said if the Sheriff’s Office thought a cougar was responsible, they would have had the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife respond to help capture or kill the animal. “I stand by what I said on X about the dog being the one that killed the little girl,” Swank told The News Tribune. “It is a tragic event, and no family should have to experience what they are going through.” Deputy Carly Cappetto, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday that a preliminary investigation indicated the child’s injuries were consistent with a canine attack. But she said DNA comparison between the deceased dog’s saliva and Alice Jo’s wounds would provide confirmation and help investigators make final conclusions. “We understand there are members of the community who remain concerned that a cougar may have been responsible for this tragic incident,” Cappetto said. “The DNA analysis is an important part of the investigation and will help provide clarity regarding the animal involved so that appropriate conclusions and responses can be made.” ‘I screamed and screamed and screamed.’ Alice Jo died Aug. 13 at a property south of Graham, near 304th Street and 92nd Avenue East. She was spending the day with her grandmother, Paulla Snider, at a friend’s house. Snider said Alice Jo was on a deck when she went inside to turn off some water. The first call to 911, according to the Sheriff’s Office, was for a missing girl. When deputies arrived, Cappetto said an aggressive dog came at them outside the property, and a woman came out to restrain it. Deputies told her the dog needed to be put away if she wanted help looking for the girl. “The investigation goes on from there,” Cappetto said. MyNorthwest News reported that deputies shot and killed an aggressive dog found near Alice Jo’s body. A detective told the news outlet that the animal had gotten in the way, and that they needed to render aid to the girl. Sandholm said the dog belonged to a friend of his and that it was related to his dog, a type of pit bull called a Staffordshire Terrier. He said his daughter had spent many weekends around the dog without issue. Locke said she heard about the incident and called 911, too. She was told the road was likely blocked off, but she went to the property and made it through. Law enforcement vehicles lined a gravel road. The rest, she said, was a blur. “I made it halfway up the road, I think, and I turned around because I didn’t want to remember my daughter the way that they were explaining things,” Locke said. “And I just sat down, and I mean I screamed and screamed and screamed and bawled.”

>About a month later, on Sept. 17, investigators carried out a search warrant at the property. Deputy Carly Cappetto, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said it was necessary to finalize investigative reports. “Once the reports are completed, they will be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for review,” Cappetto said Tuesday. “Any decisions regarding the case moving forward will be made by the prosecutor.” Swank demanded apology from girl’s aunt Alice Jo’s funeral was Sept. 12 at Mountain View Funeral Home in Lakewood. Hundreds of people attended, and a horse with flowers in its tail pulled a carriage that held the girl’s white-and-pink casket. She was born in January 2021 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. Locke said she was the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen.

>“She’s the closest thing there is to perfect,” Justice Sandholm said. “She’ll tell you that. She’ll say, ‘In my world, I’m the closest thing to perfect there is.’” Alice Jo lived in Spanaway and Graham. Her aunt, Patience Sandholm, said all of her family helped raise her. Patience Sandholm said she was a grandma’s girl, a momma’s girl and an aunt’s girl. She said she could talk all day about Alice Jo. The day of the funeral, an account on X posted a screenshot of a Facebook post from Patience Sandholm. The post said a cougar had killed Alice. Now, Patience Sandholm says she doesn’t know what killed her niece, but she does have evidence of recent cougar sightings. Patience Sandholm showed The News Tribune a photo from a neighbor’s trail camera of a cougar in the area in late August. And the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s map of predatory wildlife incidents shows one confirmed sighting Aug. 24 east of state Route 7, near the Maxine G. Morse Nature Conservancy. “I have proof of there being a cougar,” Patience Sandholm said. “I have video footage of the cougar from multiple neighbors. I even have more reports. They’re just not following up and doing their job. I am.” The day after Alice Jo’s funeral, Patience Sandholm said she was at her desk when she got a phone call from a number she didn’t recognize. It was Swank. In the conversation that followed, Swank demanded an apology for scaring the public, according to Patience Sandholm. She said she told him his online posts had been “beyond disrespectful.” “I’m going to need an apology from you for all this (expletive) that you’re stirring up because we’re trying to grieve,” Patience Sandholm said. “Nobody wanted to get on social media and do all this. Nobody wanted to do all that.”

>Snider said she thought the night after the funeral was the first time she slept since Alice Jo died. She said the whole thing had been “like a big nightmare,” and the last thing she wanted was to hear from a cop who she said didn’t know what he was talking about. “Until something’s been confirmed, I just wish everybody would just stay out of it, you know,” Paulla Snider said. “It would be better for us, all of us. It’s hard every day to live with her being gone, my baby.” This story was originally published September 23, 2026 at 5:00 AM.

Also a firefighter, he was instructing his helpers to apply a tourniquet.

>A woman was critically injured after being attacked by multiple dogs Thursday evening in Biscayne Gardens, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

As usual, the pits look like they are having a grand time. I don't hate the breed but boy, it's hard not to when you see footage like this, or the infant in India.

More information about the people involved, the nature of the attack, and the response. Photographs of the dog and the aftermath. Follow up to: https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/s/VbSIOTvNBZ

>Colonia Woman Recovering After She Was Attacked By A Pit Bull

>A neighbor heard the woman screaming and ran out to help. He said the woman was on the ground and the dog continued to bite her.

>WOODBRIDGE, NJ — The 68-year-old woman who was attacked by a pit bull last Tuesday in Woodbridge has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home, said her brother in law.

>The attack happened at 8:45 a.m. Aug. 11 on Temple Way. It is a quiet residential street in the town's Colonia section; there is a Hindu temple located at the bottom of the block.

>The pit bull had just been adopted a day earlier from Associated Humane Society in Newark. A family that lives on the block adopted the dog on Monday, and a girl in the family was taking the dog for a walk in her neighborhood that morning.

>While Woodbridge towns spokesman John Hagerty initially told Patch it was a "young girl" who took the dog for a walk, the girl was actually a teenager, said both the victim's brother in law and a neighbor who witnessed the attack firsthand.

>(All the families involved in this story — the dog's owners, the woman who was attacked, her brother in law and the neighbor who witnessed the attack — live within four houses of each other on Temple Way.)

>The teen girl had the dog on a leash, but the strong dog broke free of her grasp. The dog ran towards two women, both in their 60s, who were walking near the temple.

>"The dog jumped on the woman," said P.J., 77, the neighbor. He requested he be notified by his initials only for privacy.

>"The dog jumped on her face and started biting her face. She was crying and screaming; I heard it. I ran out (of my house) to help and she was bleeding heavily."

>P.J. said the dog's force knocked the frail older woman to the ground and she was cowering on the sidewalk as the dog continued to bite her.

>"He bit her on the cheek, under the neck and on the hand," he said. "I started to beat the dog with my shoe, but it did not stop. I'm lucky it didn't turn on me. I really think the dog was trying to take her eye out. If I gotten there two minutes later, the dog could have eaten her face. Her face will never be normal again."

>The woman's nephew, in his 20s, then also ran out of their house to help, and both he and P.J. called 911. Woodbridge Police and an ambulance arrived within minutes, said P.J.

>The woman was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, said her brother in law, Partap Singh, 62. She was admitted overnight Tuesday and released Wednesday. She will require plastic surgery for a long gash to her cheek. She has an appointment Friday with a specialist to see if she suffered any nerve damage around her eye, said Singh.

>"I really think God sent (P.J.) to help her," said Singh, of his neighbor. "My wife could not help her; she is in her 60s as well."

>"She could have died," he said, referring to his sister in law.

>Woodbridge Animal Control picked up the dog last Tuesday and the pit bull was put in a 10-day quarantine at Newark Associated Humane Society; the quarantine will last until Friday. Newark Associated Humane Society will then decide what to do with the animal, said a Woodbridge Twp. spokesman. The dog will not be returned to the family in Woodbridge.

>"They should be charged with a crime," said P.J., referring to the dog's owners. "And that dog should not be in society."

>No criminal charges have been filed against the dog's owners.

>Singh said the family that owned the pit bull has not come to his house to apologize or express their concern for the women, even though they only live two houses down from each other.

>Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is right around the corner from where the dog attack happened.

>"Thank God there were no children out that day, or on their way to school," said Lisa Chesney, a neighbor who lives up the block.

>Initial report: Pit Bull Attacks Woman Out Walking In Woodbridge (Monday)

Elaina Bryant will serve a minimum of 94 months in jail for allowing her 17 pitbull mix dogs to maul 17 year old Michael Bodenheimer to death.

Previously reported here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/1pp7b29/another_arrest_for_2025_elaina_bryant_arrested_on/

I haven't seen this attack reported here. Dog photos confirming breed (inserted as replies to this post) were published on FB by a journalist for WPDE ABC15 on her personal page. If not for these photos, breed would be swept under the rug once again.

>MARLBORO COUNTY S.C. (WPDE) — The owner of eight dogs involved in a violent attack that injured a man in Marlboro County has been arrested, according to the Marlboro County Sheriff's Office.

>Sammy Bethea is charged with:

>Eight counts of owning dangerous animals that attack and injure a human being

>Eight counts of permitting domestic animals to run at large

>Eight counts of ill treatment of animals

>Eight counts of failure to provide rabies vaccination

>Investigators said Bethea admitted the eight dogs lived with him inside his home on Old Wire Road in the Wallace area of Marlboro County.

>The charges stem from a July 31 incident in which a man was attacked by multiple dogs.

>Authorities said a child called 911 to report the attack, and deputies arrived to find the victim suffering from multiple dog bite injuries.

>The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.

>The sheriff's office said investigators, assisted by Marlboro County Animal Control, seized six of the eight dogs involved in the case.

>One of the two dogs still loose was shot during the incident after deputies said it acted aggressively.

>Investigators and Animal Control searched the surrounding wooded area but were unable to locate the remaining two dogs.

>Bethea was taken into custody in the Bennettsville area without incident and booked into the Marlboro County Detention Center, where he is awaiting a bond hearing.

>"Our thoughts remain with the victim and his children, who experienced this traumatic attack," Sheriff Larry McNeil said in a statement. "I want to thank our deputies and Marlboro County Animal Control for their professionalism, dedication and teamwork throughout this investigation."

Another one found through social media. There was a news article about the attack - see link. The neighbour, Derek Sanchez was able to restrain the pit until authorities arrived. I haven't censored his name in the social media screenshot, because he was interviewed in the article and mentioned by name. Reddit won't allow me to insert the screenshot for some reason, so I have put it in the comments section.

>A child was airlifted to a Pensacola hospital in serious condition, and an adult was hospitalized after what the Valparaiso Police Department described as an unprovoked dog attack Friday afternoon on Michigan Avenue. Officers arrived to find a neighbor restraining the dog while emergency crews treated the victims.

>The attack happened around 1:50 p.m. on July 3 on Michigan Avenue in Valparaiso. Responding officers found two victims suffering from dog bites: a juvenile with severe injuries, who was airlifted to Pensacola for treatment, and an adult who was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

>That neighbor, Derek Sanchez, told Mid Bay News a young girl ran to his home crying for help.

>“I didn’t understand the full concept of the emergency until I stepped out and witnessed probably the most horrific scene I’ve ever seen,” Sanchez said.

>Sanchez said he found what he described as a pit bull attacking a young girl and her mother. He said he was able to drive the dog away briefly before it returned and attacked again.

>Sanchez said he retrieved a firearm but decided not to use it because the dog was too close to the victims.

>“I was eventually going to shoot the dog, but I couldn’t because he was latched onto the little girl,” Sanchez said.

>Instead, Sanchez said he tackled the dog and held it down until officers arrived.

>“I just held it until the police came,” he said. “They probably came about two to five minutes later.”

>According to the Valparaiso Police Department, the dog was not a stray. Police said the adult victim was watching the dog for a friend when the attack occurred. Investigators described the attack as unprovoked and said there is no ongoing threat to the public.

>Lt. Craig Toney told Mid Bay News he has spoken with the child’s father and has been told she is expected to make a full recovery.

>“She had some pretty nasty wounds, but thankfully, from what I’ve been told after speaking to her father, she should make a full recovery,” Toney said.

>Sanchez praised the response by the Valparaiso Police Department, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel.

>“It was just the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen,” Sanchez said.

>Police said the dog was released to its owner after agreeing to a 10-day quarantine that is required by Florida law following a bite incident. Police also confirmed the health department was notified about the incident. According to Toney, the owner indicated an intention to have the dog euthanized, but police have not confirmed that euthanasia has occurred.

>The Valparaiso Police Department’s investigation remains ongoing. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.

Of course, the msn article linked above does not mention breed, but I found a video of one of the dogs being captured by AC; you be the judge! YouTube

>Two children brutally mauled by family dogs, deputies investigating

>SAN ANTONIO - Two children have been hospitalized after being bitten by dogs in their home.

>Around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, deputies rushed to the scene of a reported animal bite at a home near the 8100 block of Seldon Trail.

>When the deputies arrived, they found that two children had been bitten by two of her dogs inside the family's home.

>According to deputies on the scene, two juvenile males were attacked by the dogs, sustaining major facial injuries.

>A juvenile male was being attacked by a dog owned by the family. Another juvenile male attempted to intervene and pull the dog off the first victim. During this attempt, a second family dog attacked the second juvenile.

>"The attack seemed unprovoked," said one deputy on scene. "I guess the children were playing, and then the dogs came in and bit one, and then while they were trying to separate the dog from the other individual, the second dog came in and started biting the second child."

>The two children were taken to University Hospital in stable condition and are expected to survive.

>Both dogs have been taken into custody by Bexar County Animal Control to be quarantined. The dogs do not have a violent history, and investigators are treating the situation as an accident.

You may remember the tragic death of a deaf woman in St. Louis over a year ago. The neighbour's 3 pits pushed under the fence to attack her and one of her dogs. Husband fired shots into the air but then his gun jammed, and he tried to fend off the dogs with a broom. He was also injured. Keith Mason has been indicted on June 9th for one count of involuntary manslaughter. He was held pending a bond hearing on June 25th. I have not been able to find any reports on the hearing.

BPB reports on the initial attack: https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/1i32xt1/a_woman_was_killed_and_a_man_was_injured_when/

https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/1i4bwdk/she_was_killed_by_three_pit_bulls_st_louis/

https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/1i36jvo/woman_killed_man_injured_while_trying_to_defend/

From the msn article linked above:

>Man indicted 17 months after St. Louis dog attack that killed his neighbor

>A St. Louis man was indicted by a grand jury more than a year after his dogs attacked and killed his neighbor.

>Keith Mason was indicted on one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the attack that killed 62-year-old Gladys Anthony in the West End neighborhood on Jan. 15, 2025. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office initially refused to file charges against the owner of three dogs in the weeks after the attack, but encouraged people to call in more tips.

>Family members said Anthony came home from work and let her family's dogs out into the backyard of their home in the 5900 block of Theodore Ave. Her brother, John Jenkins, said she let one dog in the house, and when she turned around, three dogs were attacking their other dog. He said Anthony was deaf and didn't hear them coming under the fence.

>St. Louis police said Anthony's husband fired shots into the air to scare the dogs off, which was picked up by ShotSpotter technology, dispatching police toward their house, but his gun jammed and he started fighting them off with a broom.

>Environmental Health Bureau Chief Justen Hauser said they had been called to the house where the dogs involved in the attack lived two times before this incident.

>On June 9, Mason was indicted by a grand jury. The charge said he failed to "adequately secure, restrain, or otherwise control one or more dogs under his ownership, possession, or custody, thereby allowing one or more dogs to attack and inflict injuries upon Confidential Victim that caused her death."

>Mason was ordered to be held without bond until a June 25 bond hearing.

5 year old needed medevac by air. Two other children transported to hospital by ambulance

>GREAT MILLS, Md. — Three children were injured Friday morning when a pit bull bit them at a home in Great Mills, with a 5-year-old flown to Children’s National Hospital for injuries to the neck, face and hand.

>The incident was reported around 10:20 a.m. on June 26, 2026, in the 45800 block of Ketch Court.

>Emergency crews were dispatched for an animal bite involving multiple children. The dog had been secured in a kennel after the incident.

>The 5-year-old suffered a bite to the neck, three gashes to the face and one gash to the hand. A 10-year-old and a 15-year-old were also bitten on the hand.

>Bleeding was reported controlled at the scene, and no loss of consciousness was reported.

>EMS requested a medevac for one patient. Maryland State Police Aviation Trooper 7 landed nearby and flew the 5-year-old to Children’s National Hospital.

>The 10-year-old and 15-year-old were transported by ambulance to MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital.

>Animal control also responded to the incident.

The msn link has a lot of adds, sorry. The woman was attacked by a pitbull and an American bully.

>A pregnant woman was hospitalized after she was attacked by two dogs in Tacoma on Thursday. 

>Emergency crews responded to the report of two loose dogs in the 4000 block of Puget Sound Avenue around 11:05 a.m.

>A woman was walking to her vehicle with her small dog when the two dogs approached and tried to attack. She was knocked to the ground and injured, according to Tacoma police. 

>The woman was alert and stable after being taken to a local hospital.

>The two dogs -- an American pit bull terrier and an American bully -- were secured and impounded by Tacoma Animal Control. Their owners were found and cooperated with officers on scene. 

>Tacoma Animal Control will conduct a "Dangerous Dog Investigation" after the dogs are held in quarantine for 10 days, as is standard procedure, police said. After that, their owners will be able to request a hearing.

There is a quote from the pierce county scanner app doing the rounds, I will post it in the comments.

4 children were attacked by two unleashed dogs at Central Park in California City. Fernando Torres Moreno, 12, was found face-down in a lake, having entered the water to try to escape the dogs. A girl was badly injured by the dogs and hospitalised, and two other children were traumatised by the attack. Initial reports were that the dogs were "crossbreeds" or "shepherd mixes", but a followup article identifying the dogs' owner who fled the scene shows a photo of what look to be pitbulls/ pitbull crosses. Another case of the breed being obfuscated? The original report: Here

I will post a blown-up photo of the canine culprits in the comments.

I was walking my small (20lb) terrier today, and saw a massive blue pit roaming with no collar on. Fortunately, it didn't see us, but when I came back the same way, it was still loose. I turned off early to avoid it again. This was an area with a large number of townhouses, and a major pedestrian walk-way to the train station. I called my council when I got home and, after putting me on hold several times, they said they'd deal with it. Two hours later, the animal control officer called me back. Apparently, others had complained, and a neighbour had tried to alert the owners, but the dog became aggressive, and wouldn't let the neighbour approach the house. (huge surprise) Once the AC officer captured the dog, they had to wake up the owners (at 10am) and cite them for dog not under control. That is an AUD$800 fine in my country, and the dog would have been checked for a microchip and registration (both mandatory here). Hopefully, the owners have learnt their lesson, and I won't see that dog loose again.

For background, I live in Australia where pits are banned, but American Bullys and Amstaffs aren't (so the legislation is weak). This is only the third roaming pit I have seen in my neighbourhood since moving here 3 years ago, and animal control's response is reassuring. The officer encouraged me to call anytime if I see that dog loose again, and I got the impression she would gladly cite the owners again. Just a different perspective from the other side of the world.

Mods: I figured this was topical since the pit showed aggression to the neighbour trying to help, but if it doesn't belong here, by all means move it to the discussion thread.