Family dog mauls baby, shot dead by Concord police

CONCORD, Calif. (KTVU) - Police in Concord shot a dog dead Friday when it apparently acted aggressively, biting a 10-month-old child and the child's mother.

The incident happened around 4:40 p.m. on the 2100 block of Fremont Street. 

According to Contra Costa County Animal Services, the child was bit by the large, tan and black, 80-pound German shepherd-mastiff mix when the mother was folding laundry in the family's living room. Her 10-month-old son, seven-year-old son, along with the mixed-breed dog, Charlie, who was laying on the floor, were all in the living room. 

When the mom went to put laundry away in another room, she said she heard Charlie growl and the seven-year old say, "Charlie, don't you growl at him." When the mom immediately returned to the living room she said the dog growled again at her baby. That's when she picked the child up and he was bit on the right side of his face. 

Animal services says the mom shielded her child and instructed her older son to let the dog outside. The dog went out and she called 911 for help. 

When police arrived, they were confronted by Charlie who they said acted aggressively towards them. Charlie was shot three times in the chest area and was killed. 

The mother was said to have been bitten on the hand. Both victims were taken to separate hospitals. The baby was taken to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland with non-life threatening injuries, but is expected to stay overnight. 

The mother said she and her husband had owned Charlie since he was a puppy of a few weeks old. 

Although dead, Charlie will be tested for rabies as per departmental protocol.