Earlier this week, an unidentified 7-year-old boy in Massachusetts was mauled to death by his neighbor’s two pit bulls before police could arrive on the scene, prompting an immediate investigation to figure out what exactly happened. Following the attack, one of the dogs had to be put down and the other one was captured by animal control.

According to reports, the savage attack occurred last Saturday night in Lowell, Massachusetts after the victim allegedly wandered into his neighbor’s fenced-off property, which housed two pit bulls, to retrieve a ball. “The kid went into the fence, as sad as that is. The dogs didn’t jump out of the fence to go after him. The kid just made a horrible mistake,” explained an unnamed neighbor who witnessed the tragic incident.

“He was already gone as soon as we got there. No one knew what to do — probably 15 people just watching it happen…just screaming. I feel like if someone got in there, they were next. There was nothing anyone could do. Two 100-, 120-pound pit bulls…It was actually horrific to watch,” added 22-year-old neighbor David Swiniarski, whose roommate called 911 to report the attack.

After receiving several frantic phone calls about the attack, law enforcement officials rushed to the scene to try and help. Unfortunately, upon arrival, there was little the responding officers could do as the animals tore into the child’s lifeless body. Still, they still tried to stop the brutal carnage. While doing so, one of the pit bulls charged at one of the officers, who promptly pulled out his handgun and opened fire, striking it in the process.

Despite being wounded, the enraged animal continued towards the officer. “Lowell, shots fired! The dog is hit! It’s still coming at me!” shouted the officer over his radio shortly after firing. However, instead of attacking the officer, it ran out of the fence and tried to escape. Concerned for the public’s safety, the officers tracked down the injured animal and euthanized it. The other pit bull is currently in the custody of Lowell Animal Control.

Unsurprisingly, the attack absolutely devastated the entire neighborhood, including Annmarie Dizazzo, who knew the victim and his mother. “I heard someone yelling ‘It’s my baby! It’s my baby!’ and I come to find out that it was my daughter’s friend’s son,” she mentioned while speaking with reporters.

The owner of the dogs was also extremely distraught by what happened. “She was crying and crying. We tried to comfort her,” recalled neighbor Roger Rodriguez, who stated that he couldn’t imagine the dogs being violent. “The dogs to me were very mellow dogs, very nice. I used to play with the dogs sometimes,” he explained, adding, “it’s too bad, all of my prayers go to the family…I pray for the neighborhood.”

As of now, an investigation is currently underway. So far, no charges have been filed against the owners of the dog.

Sadly, dog attacks are not entirely uncommon. For example, earlier this month, a group of people who were enjoying the day out on a beach in San Sebastian, Spain were viciously attacked by an extremely aggressive dog.

During the insane encounter, which went on for several minutes before someone was able to finally scare the dangerous animal away, one of the beachgoers was left bloodied after receiving a bad bite to the leg. Shockingly, the entire incident was captured on video by a horrified bystander.

At the start of the video, the dog, believed to be some kind of bull terrier, can be seen running up to a man in a green shirt and red hat and a woman wearing a jean jacket. Moments later, it lunges towards the woman and latches onto her black skirt with its mouth.

Terrified, the man in the green shirt tries pulling her away from the dog while a man in a white shirt rushes up to them and tries to keep the dog at bay. The canine, however, evaded the second man and rushed back up to the man in green.

Once close enough, the raging dog began snapping at the man’s legs, causing him to fall over into the sand. Thankfully, several other people were nearby to help him up off the ground before the dog could pounce on him. As he’s lifted from the ground, blood can be seen pouring from bite marks on both of his legs.

Desperate to stop the attack, a man in a black shirt picked up his shoes and proceeded to hold them out in front of him to block the dogs snapping jaw. He then began screaming directly at the dog, causing it to stop running at the group to focus on barking back at him.

This, however, only lasted for a few seconds. Satisfied with its response, the dog then rushes back to the rest of the beachgoers and continues terrorizing them.

Moments later, a woman in a purple jacket approaches the group with two other dogs and appears to finally scare the raving animal off. Before ending the video, the person filming zooms in on the victim’s one last time while they walk away to tend to their wounds.

Following the terrifying attack, the owner of the dog was reportedly detained by police and questioned. It’s currently unclear what his punishment was.

While most dogs are extremely friendly, they all still have the capacity to cause a massive amount of harm. Hopefully, others can learn from these incidents and avoid making similar mistakes in the future.