The following highlights information compiled by DogsBite.org, based on the number of pit bill attacks reported in the media during the first six months of 2009 (January through June). It does not include data for unreported pit bull attacks.

2009 Human Fatalities from Pit Bull Attacks

6 (2%) of the victims of pit bull attacks in the first half of 2009 died as a result of their wounds. All of these victims were children (from youngest to oldest):

• Izaiah Gregory Cox, 7 months old, San Antonio, TX. Izaiah’s grandmother left her grandson on the bed while she went to warm a bottle. Her two pit bulls easily plowed through a baby gate to attack the 7-month-old boy. The grandmother stabbed the dogs and managed to get the baby into a crib; the dogs then turned and attacked her. Izaiah died at the hospital, and the grandmother was severely injured.
• Leonard Lovejoy Jr., 11-months (Eastpointe, MI)
• Tyson Miller, 18 months old, Luling, TX, was killed by a chained pit bull on his own property after his mother had agreed to dog sit for a pregnant pit bull for a friend.
• Gabrial Mandrell-Sauerhage, 3, Johnston City, IL. The 3-year old boy was attacked by at least one of the family’s three dogs (two pit bull mixes and one collie mix) in his backyard while his parents slept. The injured boy was found 200 feet away from his home and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. An autopsy confirmed that Gabrial died due to multiple dog bites.
• Cheyenne Peppers, 5 years old, (Thomasville, GA) was mauled to death in her backyard by three pit bulls. Two of the pit bulls had been chained but broke free to join the attack when a pregnant pit bull began mauling the little girl.
• Justin Clinton, 10, (Leverett’s Chapel, TX), was killed in an attack by two pit bull dogs belonging to a neighbor. A week prior to the fatal mauling, the boy had been bitten by one of the dogs. In this tragic case, KLTV painted the killer dog’s owners as the victims because the dogs killed the boy at the edge of their property – not while running lose.