Hemphill child attacked by neighbor’s dogs in ‘unprovoked’ backyard incident

HEMPHILL, Texas (KTRE) - The Sabine County Sheriff released a statement on Monday about a child being attacked by several dogs.

The child was playing in the back yard, the sheriff said, when the neighbor’s dogs ran after the child and attacked him. When deputies arrived at the scene, one began administering first aid to the child, who was bleeding from his legs and other parts of his body. The deputy applied tourniquets to stop the bleeding until help arrived. Pineland VFD firefighters arrived to help the child, so the deputies then turned their attention to the dogs.

They saw in the neighbor’s back yard a man with a pistol, and they heard gunshots, the statement said. They approached the man, who then took another dog from a kennel, dragged it out of sight, and shot it, as well. According to the statement, he told the deputies that he was attempting to put down all the dogs that attacked the child.

Then a female exited the home, dragging another dog out to the male, and he took the dog. However, the dog, who was still acting very aggressively toward its owner, couldn’t be put down due to lack of any further bullets in the owner’s gun. He asked the deputies to help him, so they put the dog down.

Samples from each dog was sent for rabies testing. The owner could not show proof of vaccination for any of the animals. They were issued three citations, one for each dog involved.

According to the investigation at the scene, they found that the dogs had been aggressive in the past. It appears that the dogs had been let outside of the house while the child was playing in his back yard. A witness called it an apparent unprovoked attack.

The child, who was initially taken to a hospital in Lufkin, was flown from there to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. He remains there with his family; the sheriff said no further information will be shared about his condition due to privacy concerns.

The sheriff’s office is still investigating this incident, and said additional charges could be filed.