SAINT LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV/CNN/CNN Newsource/WKRC) – An elderly woman was mauled to death by multiple dogs in her backyard.
A Saint Louis family is mourning the loss of Gladys Anthony, 62, who was mauled to death by three dogs in the backyard of her Walnut Park West home.
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Her daughter, Keshia Anthony, expressed her grief, telling KMOV, “I’m feeling the grief of what it feels like to be without my mother.”
Anthony described her mother as the only person she could rely on, telling the station, “She’s gone. I don’t have her anymore. I can’t call her on the video phone and see how she’s doing. I can’t do none of that no more. She’s gone.”
The tragic incident unfolded around 11:40 p.m. when a ShotSpotter detected gunfire near Theodore and Riverview. St. Louis police said Gladys’ husband fired shots to scare the dogs away and used a broom in an attempt to defend her.
“They took a chunk of her arm. Her legs was ate up. There was nothing that could be done to stop those damn dogs,” Anthony told the outlet.
Police officers arrived at the scene, with two using pepper spray on the dogs while a third officer brought Gladys inside to administer first aid. Despite being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, she succumbed to her injuries.
“This was an absolute tragedy. We want people to feel safe in their neighborhood. They have a right to feel safe in their neighborhood,” Mitch McCoy of the St. Louis Police told the station.
Gladys’ brother, John Jenkins, revealed that his sister, who was deaf, likely never realized the danger.
“They wouldn’t let me go see my sister so I could say my last wishes to her. That hurts. Me and her were the only two left in our own clan on this earth. Now it’s just me,” Jenkins told KMOV’s reporters.
Anthony remembered her mother as sweet and lovable, telling the outlet, “Everybody that knew her loved her. She had so many friends.” Gladys’ birthday was only days away, and her daughter lamented, “I can’t bring her a gift. I’m sitting up here trying to sit up and think about how we’re going to do these arrangements for a funeral.”
Gladys Anthony’s 73-year-old husband was also injured in the attack but is expected to recover. The dogs involved were not strays; police found them at a nearby home and took them from their 54-year-old owner. The Commissioner of Health will decide if the dogs should be euthanized.
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