Who was Lea Freeman? Girl, 4, dies in dog attack after being left inside home without adult supervision
DALLAS, TEXAS: An investigation has been launched into the death of a young girl who was reportedly killed in a dog attack when there were no adults inside the house. The deceased child has been identified as Lea Freeman, who was just four, when the animal fatally attacked her on Saturday, July 9.
Remembering the girl, her mother Tiara Freeman told KXAS-TV, “She's just a playful little girl. She's just my little angel.” The mother also shared that she, along with Lea and two of her other children, had shifted with a woman at a home near Bonnie View Road. On the day of the attack, she had gone to a store while asking the co-occupant to take care of the children.
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Tiara said, “When I went to get my wallet, my baby was just fine, she was sweet, she saw me leave, she asked where I was going, I said 'I'm going to the store real quick, I'll be right back, I'll back.' I come home, and this happens.”
Though police have not yet released any details of the incident, the child’s mother described, “We all go in the house and she (her friend she lives with) said, 'Oh my God Lea!' I go around the corner and I'm like ' Lea no!' I'm crying, picking up my baby and I'm getting bitten up by her dogs.”
The devastated mother also said that one of the dogs took her daughter’s life but the other canines, believed to be pit bulls, also had something to do with it. The little one was rushed to the hospital but couldn’t be saved. Tiara claimed, “Rambo attacked, but I got a feeling Rawlow and Reina had something to do with it too,” before adding, “I just feel tragic, my mind is not functioning, I'm just not functioning right, I'm just not thinking straight. I just miss that she's not here with me, she's not here to go to school next month, she's not here to play with her sisters.”
One of the neighbors, Michael Pennington, spoke about the tragedy with KXAS-TV as well as The Dallas Morning News. He reportedly was the one who called 911 following the horrific attack after “The girl came out holding the baby and saying, ‘Michael, call the ambulance, call the paramedics, please.’” He told authorities, “I said that baby is dead. I said that baby’s dead, man."
Pennington also said that the dogs were dangerous and “had gotten out of the house multiple times by jumping through a broken window. When he heard the dogs through the window Saturday morning, he thought the dogs were fighting each other. That was until he heard his neighbor screaming,” The Dallas Morning News reported.
The neighbor claimed that the mother was not at home when Lea was killed, while the other woman was talking to neighbors outside the house. Michael’s sister Lorie also said that the dogs had terrified her in the past as well. She accused one of the animals of attacking her 15-year-old niece nearly a month ago but nothing serious happened. Another neighbor Brenda Lewis agreed with the Penningtons as she said, “I won’t even let my grandkids come outside because the dogs are just running around.”
4 y/o Lea Freeman died after she was attacked by a dog in Southern Dallas.
— Malini Basu (@MaliniBasu_) July 11, 2022
Her family says, Lea’s 2 y/o sister was in the room & witnessed everything.
Neighbors told us, the dogs are aggressive, & have jumped out windows before.@wfaa pic.twitter.com/CHI523xJmO
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Lorie also stated that she called 3-1-1 and complained about the dogs earlier this spring but no action was taken. “I told them we have some pit bulls that my neighbor has and they keep getting out and they can’t keep them in,” she said before adding, “If the city of Dallas would have came out and did something about the dogs when everyone was letting them know that the dogs are getting out and if CPS had listened and did what they were supposed to do, they could have removed those kids out of the house.”