Baby killed by Rottweiler in Detroit metro area
9/13/2007WARREN, Mich. - A 4-month-old was fatally mauled by a 120-pound Rottweiler while her mother had stepped away to warm her bottle during a party attended mostly by teenagers at a home, police said.
Police found Lylie Cox about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday in a Warren home. She was taken to St. John Oakland Hospital in nearby Madison Heights, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
The name of the 17-year-old mother wasn't released.
Police said the mother had asked a friend to watch the girl, who was in a car safety seat. When the friend placed the seat on the living room floor to unfasten the straps, the dog attacked the child, said Sgt. Louis Galasso.
"The dog pulled the child from the car seat and shook her violently," Galasso told The Detroit News. "At one point he repositioned his grip on the child and shook her back and forth."
The dog "came out of nowhere," Galasso told the News and the Detroit Free Press.
Authorities said the dog's 19-year-old owner had brought the animal to the gathering and turned it over to police. The dog was to be destroyed.
No one was in custody. Macomb County prosecutors were informed of the incident "and will await further investigation before considering what charges if any may be filed," a police statement said.
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