A three-year-old boy has died after he fell out of a window and was mauled by a pack of dogs in the backyard.
Police say they were called to the house in Elizabeth, New Jersey just after 5:25pm on Wednesday (local time) where the child was found with serious injuries, NBC reports. The boy had fallen from a rear window and was attacked by the family's two dogs that were in a fenced-in area.
He was taken to nearby Trinitas Regional Medical Center but he was pronounced dead just after 6:30pm.
Neighbours who witnessed the traumatic incident say it was horrible to see the young boy's mother try to pull the dogs off him.
"My heart is broken. I didn't sleep all night," neighbour Maria Rocha told ABC7.
Other locals say the dogs were always a terror and the backyard where the attack happened is full of faeces, motorcycles, and debris.
"I cannot believe this happened to a little three-year-old," Rocha said. "He's a baby. Could be mine, could be somebody else. He's a baby, and killed by dogs?"
Police say the circumstances are under investigation, but no charges have been filed yet.
A local animal control organisation responded to the scene and secured the dogs, which have since been moved to another location.