A 1-year-old boy who was mauled by three dogs on Monday near San Antonio has died, the Bexar County Medical Examiner said.
Jiryiah Johnson died at 9:28 p.m. on Monday at University Hospital. The infant was mauled by three pit bulls at a home in Converse, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said. The child’s babysitter Heather Rodriguez, allegedly left Johnson under her teenage daughter’s care.
The attack, which reportedly spread across several rooms, left Jiryiah with critical injuries to his head, face, and neck. Medical staff rushed him to the hospital, but throat damage reportedly left him unable to breathe on his own. The child succumbed to his injuries Monday.
Police arrested Rodriguez, 36, on a felony charge of injury to a child by omission, with possible additional charges for her daughter’s involvement. Salazar stated during the news briefing that the baby and the 13-year-old were initially secured in a bedroom, with the door shut to keep them separated from Rodriguez’s three pit bulls.
The door, previously damaged by the dogs, was broken down again, allowing the dogs to attack. The babysitter tried to protect the baby but described the struggle as a “tug of war” that lasted several minutes.
The teen eventually took the baby into a bathroom, where the dogs forced their way inside again, further mauling both the infant and the 13-year-old. The girl left Jiryiah with the dogs momentarily to retrieve her phone and call for help, then carried him to another room and blocked the door with her body to shield him.
Jiryiah’s mother, Erika Castro, said she hadn’t yet come to terms with the loss of her only child. “I’ve been shaking, I’ve been having panic attacks,” Castro told local news outlet KENS 5. “I wish she’d had stayed like she said she would’ve, instead of going into work like she got called into work.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with expenses. Rodriguez remains behind bars at the Bexar County jail on $100,000 in bond amounts.
