Overview

• The one-year-old girl’s carotid artery was severed in the July 2 attack at her Dover Township home, causing instantaneous death
• Her mother suffered defensive wounds while rescuing the child and immediately called 911
• Sheriff’s deputies say the family’s pit bull was euthanized the day of the incident
• The Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office has opened an autopsy to formally establish the cause of death
• This tragedy joins a string of recent fatal pit bull attacks on young children, raising fresh questions about the breed’s unpredictable aggression