A 3-year-old Fort Worth girl was killed after she was mauled by a neighbor's dog, police said.
Brooklynn Grace Milburn was playing in her back yard when she somehow crawled through a hole in the fence, police said. The 17-year-old rottweiler attacked her in the head, face and neck, police said.
"It's sickeningly tragic," said the family's pastor, Mike Tucker, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Arlington. He said the family is devastated.
Police received the call at about 6 p.m. Thursday in the 3900 block of Buckhorn Place in far north Fort Worth.
She was rushed to Cook Children's Medical Center, but doctors could not save her.
Tucker said the girl's mother, father, grandfather and 5-year-old brother were inside the house when she was playing in her back yard.
"The family is just pretty well traumatized right now, as you might imagine," Tucker said. "They go from shock to pure terror to horror at the thought of this, but they have a strong faith and I know that is going to help see them through it."
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The hole in the fence was so small, nobody thought the child could even fit through it, he said.
"This is the worst tragedy we've had involving a dog in years," said police spokesman Lt. Paul Henderson. "Our hearts go out to the girl's family."
Police are still investigating and do not know if any charges will be filed.
The dog was seized by animal control officers and euthanized.
