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An 8-year-old Volusia County boy died Monday afternoon after he was brutally mauled by two dogs as his screaming mother tried to wrench him free, officials said.
A visibly upset Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Michael Millett was riding his bike with friends at the front of a subdivision north of DeLand when he saw two unleashed dogs and went to pet them.
The animals — one pitbull and one mixed breed — began mauling Millett, inflicting the boy with 12 bite wounds and injuries Chitwood described as “just horrific.”
“In all my years of policing, to listen to that 911 call, and hear Michael’s mother in the background move on top of him to stop the attack, screaming, “somebody help me, my child’s not breathing,!’ just strikes to the core of who we are as human beings,” he said.
Millett, Chitwood said at a Tuesday press conference, sustained a broken neck and leg during the assault.
The owner of the animals, repeat felon Amanda Bailey Franco, has still refused to sign off on having them euthanized.
Emergency crews were called to the scene at 5 p.m. and desperately tried to administer CPR, but Millett passed as his wailing mother looked on.
The parent, Chitwood said, saw the attack in progress and dove on top of her stricken son with the dogs still hovering ominously nearby.
Bystanders screamed at her to flee the area due to the threat posed by the dogs, but she refused to wrench herself from her boy until emergency crews arrived.
“I just can’t imagine a mother being out there and seeing the end result,” Chitwood said. “He never had a chance. He never had a chance.”
The dogs’ owner was not present at the time of the incident.
“We are going to do everything in our power to make sure these animals are destroyed and that she is charged,” he said.
Chitwood said Franco has prior convictions ranging from assault with a deadly weapon to numerous drug raps.
Arriving deputies chased down and captured the two dogs and they remain in quarantine.
Investigators learned that they were routinely left to roam around the area unleashed and had been “terrorizing” locals for some time.
Some residents reported that the animals were known for killing chickens.
“This didn’t happen in a vacuum,” he said.
Officials urged residents not to approach stray or unleashed dogs, no matter how calm they may appear.
“This is a tragedy beyond comprehension, especially for those of us who are parents and grandparents,” Chitwood said Monday evening. “I can only ask our community to say a prayer of strength for this family and keep them in your hearts as they face their worst nightmare.”
