Pack of stray dogs kills woman near California park

A woman was killed after being torn apart by a pack of stray dogs near a park in Southern California, authorities said.

Teodora Mendoza, 51, was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries to her face and later died after the attack involving more than a dozen dogs on Thursday, the LA Times reports.

Another woman was injured in the gruesome attack near Perris Hill Park in San Bernardino at around 5 p.m., according to the LA Times.

While police were tending to the two victims lying some 30 yards apart, one of the stray dogs, a pit bull, charged at an officer, who opened fire and killed the animal.

“At the time that the officer was rendering aid to the female, there was two dogs that ran out of a brush. He then fired two rounds to protect him and the female that he was rendering aid to,” Police Department spokesperson Araceli Mata told CBS News.

“It was a bit of a chaotic scene at first because there were multiple dogs out there,” Sgt. Chris Gray of the San Bernardino Police Department told the LA Times.

Crime scene tape and discarded clothing could be seen at the site of the fatal attack, video from CBS News shows.

Many of the homeless people who live in the area where the attack took place keep unleashed dogs for protection, neighbors said.

Mendoza’s son, 21-year-old Alex Lozano, said his mother often stayed in a homeless encampment in the park.

She had been homeless for over a year, and usually split her time between San Bernardino and Banning, where Lozano now lives, he said, adding that he hadn’t spoken to her in some time.

“My grandpa from Texas called and said that my mom was attacked by pit bulls. That’s how I found out,” he told the LA Times.

Fourteen dogs were removed from the park by animal services, Police Department spokesperson Araceli Mata said.

California saw the highest number of insurance claims for dog bites in the most recently available figures, with 2,104 in 2023, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute.

The Golden State also tops the list for the highest average dog bit claim cost, at $78,818.