12-Year-Old Boy Killed By Pit Bull

A boy was fatally mauled in a pit bull attack at his home Friday, authorities said. Police killed one of two dogs in the house, and captured the second.

The attack occurred in the city's Sunset District, about a block from Golden Gate Park, according to San Francisco Fire Lt. Bill Wickliffe.

Authorities got a frantic 911 call from an unidentified woman.

"She was yelling and screaming," Wickliffe said.

A neighbor said the same thing to CBS Affiliate KPIX: "We basically heard the mother in the back of the house screaming, 'my child is dead,' so our upstairs neighbor called 911," said Donna Castelli, who lives nearby. "We came racing out and the mother was hysterical."

A police officer shot to death a fawn-colored female pit bull when it wouldn't allow the officer to enter the apartment, said Police Sgt. Neville Gittens.

A second pit bull, a male, was found inside the apartment and captured, he said. The dogs weighed about 80 pounds each, according to Gittens.

Neighbors said the dogs were pets of the boy's family.

No one was taken into custody. Detectives "are conducting a homicide investigation," said Police Chief Heather Fong.

Neighbor Aaron Vinnick, 11, said the victim — described as either 11 or 12 — lived in the apartment with his parents, brother and sister, and the two dogs.

Asked about the dogs' behavior, Vinnick replied: "Sometimes nice, sometimes mean."

San Francisco has seen at least one other fatal dog mauling in recent years, the death of Diane Whipple in 2001. She was killed by two 100-pound-plus Presa Canarios in the hallway outside her Pacific Heights apartment.

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