Who was Lucille Downer? Woman, 85, mauled to death by neighbor's dogs as family watched horrified
An 85-year-old woman identified by police as Lucille Downer was mauled to death by dogs in her garden. The horrible incident occurred at 3:20 pm at her home in Rowley Regis, in the West Midlands on Good Friday. Downer's relatives reportedly tried to help her but they did not succeed.
The dogs' owner, however, was able to get the dogs back into his neighboring garden. Downer was later pronounced dead on the scene after an air ambulance had landed in a nearby park. Downer lived alone in her apartment. Her family also released a statement regarding the incident.
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Downer's family said, "Lucille was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who spent her working years as a cook at Bromford House Care Home in West Bromwich. Lucille was born in Jamaica and emigrated to the UK in her early 20s. Since arriving in the UK, Rowley Regis has always been her home and her family will miss her dearly."
Witnesses, who were Downer's neighbors also stated that they saw the dogs drag Downer around in the garden. Neighbors also left condolence messages on the victim's driveway. A neighbor was quoted by Express as saying, "I know she’s an old lady like myself and I know she’s called Lucille. It’s so horrible I feel so terrible about it all." A few surprised neighbors also said that they had seen the two dogs being walked around the neighborhood and said "they seemed well behaved."
Phil Asquith, superintendent of West Midlands Police at a press conference on Sunday said "Neighbors called to report that a woman, 85 years of age, was under attack from dogs from a neighboring property," and added, "Our officers attended, by which point the dogs had returned through a hole in the fence to the adjacent property and then, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of medical professionals, that lady died at the scene."
The two dogs were transported to secure kennels after being tranquilized; it is yet to be decided what will be done to them. In the meantime, a DNA test has been conducted to find out which breed the dogs belong to. Asquith said, "Fortunately, these types of incidents are rare. This presented no wider threat to the public. It was a hole in adjacent premises so they weren’t running in the streets."
He then added, "It was contained and the male, 43, who owned those dogs was arrested yesterday. He has subsequently been bailed for further inquiries whilst we undertake a forensic post-mortem to determine the cause of death and to determine the breed of the dogs involved. They were two large dogs."
Asquith further explained, "The DNA samples have to be taken to determine the specific breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act (to see if) they are specific breeds that are banned – and I can’t speculate as to whether or not they are banned dogs.” He also did not reveal the specifics of the injuries and said, "The dogs will have unfortunately carried out a fairly sustained attack so there were multiple injuries, mainly caused as a result of the delay in getting into the garden."