'The whole situation was traumatic, chaotic, and emotional for everyone in our hospital staff, including myself.'

IRVING, Texas — The head veterinarian at an Irving animal hospital released a statement Wednesday about the weekend death of a woman who was killed by her own pit bulls on the hospital's property.

Dr. James Kang, D.V.M. said in the statement that the attack happened at O'Connor Animal Hospital without the knowledge of the veterinary staff, and by the time a receptionist saw the body of Johana Villafane lying on the the ground outside, it was too late.

Irving Police promptly arrived and shot the dogs.

Read Kang's full statement below:

The Staff and I at O’Conor Animal Hospital experienced an awful, tragic incident in our hospital backyard on March 23rd 2019. We are so sorry for the loss of Johana Villafane and her family is in our prayers.

She brought 2 dogs for rabies quarantine in our office on March 18th 2019. I examined the 2 dogs at the time of admission. The male pit bull terrier was friendly, but the female pit bull terrier seemed to be scared as well as frightened. The next morning, our staff could not walk them in the backyard due to the dogs’ aggressive behavior. We called the owner and told her that we could not keep her dogs in our hospital for quarantine due to their aggressive behavior, and the dogs will only be able to stay at our hospital unless she is able to walk them. Their family came to the office, twice a day, walking their dogs for a whole week without any incident.

Johana came into our office at 11am on Saturday, March 23rd 2019 to walk her two dogs.

She let them out in the backyard at 11:10am. We were very busy taking care of clients and patients all morning that we were unable to hear any noise or screaming that occurred in the backyard. One of our receptionists saw her laying in the grass in our backyard at 11:45am. She called 911 immediately for assistance. We were trying to reach her, trying to rescue her but were not successful because the two dogs were guarding her. Paramedics came in at 11:50am but could not get to her until the police arrived at 11:52am. The police discharged their weapons and shot the two dogs, then the paramedics attended to her and took her immediately to Parkland Emergency Hospital.

The whole situation was traumatic, chaotic, and emotional for everyone in our hospital staff, including myself. We are trying to overcome this tragic incident and move forward.