A teen was mauled to death by three dogs in the back yard of a Texas home over the weekend, according to a new report.

Nelson Cabrera, 16, was in the yard of the Irving home around 4:45 a.m. Saturday when the dogs, which neighbors say appeared to be pit bulls, attacked, NBC DFW reported.

When officers arrived, they “put themselves” in between the dogs and Cabrera to protect him, according to the report. The dogs then started to attack the officers, who fired shots at them, the station reported.

Cabrera was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas with critical injuries and died that night, according to the report. One of the officers was hospitalized for a dog bite and released.

“I commend those officers for taking the initiative to jump over that fence and think about [the] victim before themselves,” police spokesman Robert Reeves said.

The dogs were secured in the back yard at the time, and it wasn’t clear why the teen was there, according to the report.

“We don’t want to speculate on what he might have been doing, but we definitely don’t know why he was in that back yard,” Reeves told NBC.

Guillermo Lorenzo, who owns the home where the incident unfolded, said he recognized Cabrera as a homeless teen who had been around just the day before.

“He has no right to be in that yard,” Lorenzo told the outlet. “Nobody has a right to be in that yard. This is private property. That’s why the fence is tall.”

Lorenzo’s dogs were simply protecting him, the homeowner claimed.

One of the animals was euthanized due to a gunshot wound, and the other two were still being held at the Irving Animal Shelter, according to the report.

Lorenzo’s next-door neighbor Elizabeth Cantu told the Dallas Morning News that her family had problems with the dogs in the past. One was aggressive toward her when she tried to fill a hole it dug in her back yard, she recalled.

“I’m scared of those dogs, I am,” Cantu told the paper.