The Union County Prosecutor's Office has taken over the lead in an investigation where a child was killed in Elizabeth on Wednesday evening.
Residents described to RLS Media the gruesome scene that played out at a home in the 400 block of South 5th Street around 5:25 p.m.
According to residents, emergency responders flooded the neighborhood after they learned of an injured child.
When police and EMS arrived at the scene, they found a severely injured 3-year-old lying on the ground bleeding heavily.
According to a preliminary investigation, the unidentified child fell 15ft from the back window of the two-story house, where he reportedly suffered a neck injury.
While on the ground, residents told RLS Media that two aggressive pitbulls began to tear at several parts of the boy's body, including his lower extremities.
Elizabeth Police secured the scene, then did everything they could to save the boy before he was rushed to Trinitas Hospital where he died at 6:30 p.m.
Elizabeth City officials would only confirm the child's death and that the investigation was being handled by The Union County Prosecutor's Office.
An investigation led by members of the Union County Homicide Task Force, the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit and Special Prosecutions Unit, and the Union County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit, and assisted by members of the Elizabeth Police Department, revealed that the dogs, which belonged to the victim’s family, were in the fenced yard at the time of the incident.
Representatives of a local animal control organization responded to the scene and secured the dogs, which were transported to another location.
No criminal charges associated with this incident have been filed at this time.
Anyone with any information about this matter is being urged to contact the Union County Prosector’s Office Detective Richard Acosta at 908-347-0404or Detective Michael Tambini at 908-472-4301.