Massachusetts teen mauled to death by dogs he was caring for: 'Things like that should never happen to anybody'
A Massachusetts teen was mauled to death on Thursday by multiple dogs he was caring for, a prosecutor said on Friday.
Fourteen-year-old Ryan Hazel had gone to the property of Scott Dunmore, a professional dog trainer, in Dighton to look after the dogs as he was in Boston, said Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn. The 49-year-old Dunmore has been cooperating with investigators but no foul play is suspected, Quinn said, reports WCVB.
According to the information shared by Dunmore on his website, he has been professionally training dogs for 15 years now and specializes in pack exercises.
Dighton Police Chief Robert MacDonald, who Daily Mail reports, was quite shaken by the incident, told the outlet: "Things like that should never happen to anybody, let alone a 14-year-old boy.'
Ryan had been driven from neighboring Rehoboth to the property in Dighton at about 6 pm on Thursday by his grandmother. She waited in the car as Ryan wouldn't take longer than 45 minutes to finish the tasks he was asked to do. Once she noticed he took longer than usual, she decided to call his parents who then called a neighbor of the property. After the neighbor reached the property, he found the boy and called 911 at 8 pm approximately.
Quinn shared that Ryan had "traumatic injuries to various areas of his body," and was pronounced dead at the scene. When police arrived, they found four dogs roaming around freely on the property, and seven others in kennels. Among the free four were Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois. Quinn also shared that all 11 of them were taken in custody by animal control, and one of them acted aggressively.
Police chief MacDonald told Daily Mail that there had been no prior complaints about the dogs on that property before the incident.
Superintendent Alexandre Magalhaes shared in a statement that Ryan was a student at Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School in Taunton, and had been caring for the dogs on the property for a year now.
"We are saddened by this loss in our school community, and as we come together, our leadership team will make every effort to provide assistance to our students, families and fellow employees as needed," read the statement from Magalhaes, reports Daily Mail.
CBS Boston also reported a neighbor, Ann Maggi, as saying: "It's such a tragic thing. I'm hoping things are resolved and that his family is grieving and they're able to find peace with everything that's gone on." Adding that she knew there were dogs on the property but never heard of any trouble from them, she said: "You do hear dogs barking occasionally but beyond that everyone is kind of doing their own thing. It's very quiet here."