Girl, 4, Killed in Dog Attack Inside Dallas Home

Dallas Police are investigating the death of a 4-year-old girl after detectives say she was attacked by a dog in her home on Saturday.

"She's just a playful little girl. She's just my little angel," said Tiara Freeman about her daughter, Lea.

Freeman said the 4-year-old along with with her two younger children had moved in with a woman she knows in the 5600 block of Bluffman Drive in Southern Dallas.

She said on Saturday, just before 8 a.m., she asked the friend to look after the kids as she went to the store.

"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," said Freeman.

The details of specifically what happened are still under investigation, but Freeman described what she found when she came back.

"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," said Freeman.

She said her daughter was mangled by at least one of the dogs, all of whom were pitbulls according to Freeman.

"Rambo attacked, but I got a feeling Rawlow and Reina had something to do with it too," suspected Freeman.

“The girl came out holding the baby and saying, ‘Michael, call the ambulance, call the paramedics, please,'” said Michael Pennington a neighbor across the street.

Pennington told NBC 5 that on Saturday morning his neighbor across the street in the 5600 block of Bluffman Drive came out of her house and called out to him.

Pennington called 911 and that is what sent Dallas EMS and police to the home to find a 4-year-old girl who had been attacked by a dog living in the home with her.

Lea was taken to the hospital, but did not survive.

"I just feel tragic, my mind is not functioning, I'm just not functioning right, I'm just not thinking straight," said Freeman. "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."

Freeman, who has three children, said her youngest daughter was with the child's father, but her middle child witnessed what happened.

"My one year-old, she was there watching, she was there, she sat there because she's one, she didn't know what to do," said Freeman.

Dallas Police confirmed that Dallas Animal Services has taken custody of the dog.

Neighbors said the three dogs living in the home are known all too well to those living around them and Lorie Pennington told NBC 5 she called 3-1-1 on the dogs earlier this spring.

“I told them we have some pit bulls that my neighbor has and they keep getting out and they can’t keep them in,” Pennington said.

She said the shattered glass and boarded windows on the home are a result of the dogs jumping out of the house, often running loose in the neighborhood.

She added calls to Child Protective Services were made, too, because of concerns for the well-being of that 4-year-old girl and two younger children.

“They (CPS) should have either said, ‘You have to get rid of the dogs or the kids got to go,'” she said.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed to NBC 5 Sunday that the agency had prior contact with the family but details were confidential, per state law.

A spokesperson added it is investigating the death along with Dallas Police and that as of Sunday two surviving children are in the care of separate parents.

Freeman acknowledged the past interaction with CPS and said it was due to family members concerns.

In regards to what happened over the weekend, Dallas Police said at this time no charges have been filed.