11-Year-Old Sustains Horrific Injuries After Pack of Neighborhood Dogs Rips Him Apart - Owner Arrested
On Friday, an 11-year old boy was seriously injured near Grovetown, Georgia after being attacked by three pit bulls.
Justin Gilstrap was set upon by the three dogs as he was riding his bicycle through his neighborhood, according to the New York Post.
Gilstrap's 11-year old cousin, Mason Aguilar, called 911 after three pit bulls dragged the boy off his bike and into a roadside ditch.
“I thought my cousin was at his house playing a game. Then I see him sitting there in the ditch with three dogs and blood everywhere, saying, ‘Mason help, Mason help, Mason help," Aguilar recalled, according to WRDW-TV.
The owner of the dogs, Burt Baker III, was arrested and charged with reckless conduct after the attack.
Baker told police that the animals like to chase people on bicycles.
Gilstrap's mother, Ericka Gilstrap, created a GoFundMe to help the family pay for her injured son's medical needs.
She described the severity of her son's injuries in the fundraiser description.
"He is missing 70 percent of his scalp, has several lacerations and staples, they couldn’t close the wound on his leg, and now he’s running a fever," Ericka Gilstrap wrote.
The fundraiser had already raised more than $135,000 at the time this article was written.
What makes this attack more disturbing is the fact that the family had reported the dogs to Columbia County authorities as a safety concern before, including last year when the animals attacked Kellie Aguilar's, Mason Aguilar's mom's, dog, WRDW reported.
“Nobody’s ever done anything. [The dogs] just run loose. They’re not behind the fence. They’re not tied up. They run loose 24/7,″ Kellie Aguilar said.
"Columbia County did nothing! It’s sad it took this for them to finally do something," Ericka Gilstrap wrote on the GoFundMe page.
She described her son's injuries as life-changing in a phone call with WRDW.
"There isn’t an inch of his body that doesn’t have a cut or bruise. His life will never be the same again.”
“I don’t want another mom to have to sit next to their baby like I am doing right now,” she added.
Justin Gilstrap is being treated at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
