A family from East Hartford is mourning a tragic loss after a dog attacked their 1-year-old baby in their backyard.
Police said it happened Wednesday afternoon at the home on Fuller Avenue in East Hartford.
The family said the child, named Lennox, was playing on a trampoline with his mom when the attack happened.
The dog, they said, is a family dog that never acted aggressively in the past.
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“If the dog would have been aggressive or anything like that, trust and believe he wouldn’t have been around the baby,” Ricky Rohena, Lennox’s dad, said.
A neighbor, hearing screams, ran across the street to help. He said he wished he could have gotten there sooner.
“I tried to fight off two Pitbulls and help the baby as much as I could,” Rohan Green said. “One minute seemed like forever. [It was] a long battle.”
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The child was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“He was on the ambulance alive,” Crystal Rod, the baby’s aunt, said. “He fought and he tried to stay with us as long as he could.”
Police describe the dog as a large, mixed-breed dog. A second dog was also taken from the property. Both are at a pound nearby.
“I just didn’t get the chance to hold my baby at all. I didn’t get the chance to see him,” Rohena said. “I was working. I wasn’t here. I came home, took the dogs out. I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I left the dogs outside. I should have never left them outside.”
Lennox’s mom, Keyshla Torres, who is pregnant, was also injured in the attack.
“I witnessed it,” she said tearfully. “[The dog] got onto the trampoline, then he grabbed the baby.”
Lennox had just turned 1, and the family was preparing for a celebration that night.
“He was a happy baby,” Torres said. “Every time he would hear his dad come home, hear his dad open the door, he would get happy. He was a daddy’s boy.”
The family asks for grace and compassion, as they said they’ve received many negative messages online.
“We just ask to please be mindful that we’re already dealing with the loss of an infant, an innocent angel,” Rod said. “We were supposed to be celebrating his life. He turned one on March 9. But instead of celebrating his one year birthday, we have to come together as a family and plan a burial service.”
“We’re receiving so much public hate. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. This was the family dog. No one ever saw this coming. Those dogs were loved and Lennox was loved 17 times more than the dogs.”
