SAN DIEGO — Three dogs attacked their owner at a San Diego park Friday, killing the man and injuring a person who had tried to help, according to authorities and the Humane Society.
The dogs were euthanized Saturday, San Diego Humane Society spokesperson Nina Thompson said.
The attack was reported about noon Friday at Mesa Viking Park in the Mira Mesa neighborhood, San Diego police told NBC San Diego.
The Humane Society, along with police, confirmed the owner’s death, Thompson said. “Our hearts and deepest sympathies go out to the victim’s loved ones,” she said.
Chuck Westerheide, spokesperson for the San Diego County Department of Medical Examiner, said Sunday the deceased has been identified as Pedro Luis Ortega, 26.
The manner and cause of death were still pending, he said by email.
The Humane Society, which contracts with the city for animal control and welfare services, said a second victim was recovering after having been hospitalized.
Thompson said in statement emailed Sunday that the surviving victim had tried to assist the owner during the attack and sustained “serious bite injuries.”
She said officers have security video of the owner walking the dogs toward the park before the attack. In the update, she described the dogs’ breed as an American bully variant known as an XL bully.
The nonprofit said it had no record regarding past possible complaints or alleged attacks by the three dogs.
Resident Paul Ngo told NBC San Diego he saw the man with his dogs before the attack.
“I saw a person running around with three dogs,” he said. “I noticed that he was constantly repeating like, ‘Hey, be gentle, be nice.'”
Police and Humane Society officers tracked down two of the dogs and put them in bite quarantine. The third was found locked in a vehicle and was also put in quarantine, Thompson said.
Their remains will be tested for rabies, she said.
“We are fully committed to conducting a thorough and careful review of this incident in collaboration with our law enforcement partners,” Thompson said.
Mira Mesa is a postwar bedroom community that was developed in part to serve personnel based at adjacent military facilities now known as Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Insiya Gandhi
contributed
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