Man mauled to death by 4 pitbulls behind his Brooklyn Center home
A man was mauled by four pitbull dogs outside his Brooklyn Center home and died after suffering "extensive bites on a majority of his body," officials said.
The incident occurred Thursday afternoon behind a house in the 5700 block of N. Halifax Avenue, said Police Cmd. Tony Gruenig.
A family member identified the man to the Star Tribune on Friday as Dezmond Thomas Trawick, 22. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office said Trawick died Thursday night at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale.
Officers who responded to the scene deployed a nonlethal round and struck at least one of the dogs, which sent all four of the animals from the backyard into the residence, according to police.
"The victim had most of his clothing ripped off and had extensive bites on a majority of his body," a statement from police read.
The dogs live elsewhere and Trawick was caring for them for the day, Gruenig said.
No one else was at the home at the time, the commander said, leaving it uncertain how much time passed between the attack and when "a neighbor just came out" and saw what happened.
Gruenig said police are trying to figure out what prompted the American pitbull terriers to attack Trawick. So far, police have not determined whether anybody is criminally liable for the mauling.
Dog attacks are among the rarest causes of death in Minnesota. Over the past 20 years, four other people have reportedly died in the state as a result of a dog attack, according to death certificate data kept by the Minnesota Department of Health.
One of the four who died was 14-year-old Deon Bush, who was fatally bitten by a dog in western Minnesota in December 2020 at the home where his family operates a breeding business. The teen was found dead in the yard of the family's home near Battle Lake. The dog, a three-year-old Polish long-haired shepherd brought from Europe six months earlier, was put down.
In Minneapolis in August 2007, 7-year-old Zachary King Jr. went to play with the family pitbull that was tethered to a pole in the basement and died after the dog's jaws clamped down on his neck. The boy's father, Zachary King Sr., went on trial and was acquitted by the judge of second-degree manslaughter.
According to data compiled by the National Canine Council, a nonprofit canine behavior science and policy think tank based in New York state, there were 46 verified fatalities related to dog bites nationwide in 2020.
Emergency responders Thursday in Brooklyn Center did an immediate ventilation procedure on Trawick before he was taken to a nearby hospital for surgery, the statement continued.
Before he died, police initially thought he was going to survive and spend several weeks in the hospital.
All of the dogs were transported and quarantined at Pups Under Police Security (PUPS), an animal holding facility in Maple Grove for Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Crystal, Maple Grove, New Hope, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.
The future of the dogs will be determined after they undergo a dangerous dog evaluation, according to police.
Staff writer MaryJo Webster contributed to this report.
