A 4-year-old boy was killed in dog attack while playing in his backyard in Detroit.Photo:CBS Detroit/Youtube

4-year-old boy killed in dog attack while playing in his backyard in Detroit

CBS Detroit/Youtube

“We’re not sure if it’s one or two dogs, but Animal Control has two dogs in custody,” Donakowski said, perNBC News, noting that the dogs were pit bulls or pit bull mixes. “It’s believed that the dogs belonged to a neighbor, but as far as how it happened, we’re unsure at this time.”

The Detroit Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The deceased child’s aunt told Fox 2 Detroit that she believed that a neighbor’s dog had managed to grab Anderson through a gap in his fenced-off backyard and pull him to the other side before attacking him.

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“My sister is truly distraught right now, at this moment,” one of Anderson’s aunts told the Fox 2 Detroit. “This is a very sad situation. As we know in Detroit, pit bulls [are] a big problem when you don’t have them trained properly, or tied up, or put in a gate – secured properly.”

The Detroit Police Department echoed her sentiments at the press conference, encouraging people to secure their dogs so that a tragedy like this doesn’t happen again.

“The loss of a child who hasn’t really started their life is just something huge that nobody can really even fathom,” Police Cmdr. Arnold Williams said during the press conference, perNBC News.

“This reminds everybody, if you do have a dog to secure your dog to make sure your dog can’t get out,” Williams added. “That’s the most important thing.”

source: people.com