Lincoln boy killed in dog attack

09/26/2007 07:47 AM
By: News 14 Carolina Web Staff
news14.com

LINCOLNTON, N.C. -- A Lincoln County family is in mourning Wednesday following the loss of their 2-year-old child.

The boy was reported missing Tuesday night from a house on Atlantic Lane. Deputies found him in a wooded area behind a neighbor's home.
He reportedly wandered into an area where two dogs were chained, became tangled in the chains and was attacked by the dogs.

Officials pronounced the boy dead at Carolina Medical Center-Lincoln.

The two dogs, both German Shepard mixes, were taken to Lincoln County animal control.

Boy dies after dog attack

September 26, 2007
www.wcnc.com

BOGER CITY, N.C. -- A 2-year-old boy died Tuesday night after he wandered into a neighbor’s yard where two dogs were chained.

A relative said Karson Dylan Gilroy was staying with his great-grandmother while his mother was at work. She went inside for a minute, leaving the boy out in the yard, and when she came back, little Karson had disappeared. Lincoln County officials said family members called 911 and reported the boy missing from the home on Atlantic Lane off Salem Church Road. Deputies said he had been missing for about 15 minutes when the call came in.

About a half a dozen agencies responded and began searching door-to-door. Deputies found the boy about an hour later in a wooded area behind a neighbor’s home, apparently killed by the dogs.

Karson had wandered into an area where two German Shepherd mixes were chained. The boy became tangled in the chain and was mauled.

"The officers were simply devastated by what they found," said Larry Seagle, spokesman for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.

The toddler was found unconscious, and was taken by ambulance to CMC-Lincoln. Paramedics performed CPR on him during the ride. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Both dogs were taken into Lincoln County Animal Control's custody. They will be held there for ten days to make sure they don’t have rabies and then they will be put down.

 

Dogs that killed boy described as docile
'They don't bark, they don't grab'

September 27, 2007
WCNC and Staff Reports

BOGER CITY --Relatives of a 2-year-old boy mauled to death by dogs Tuesday said he had been eating and watching television just before he apparently wandered off, got lost and encountered two German Shepherds in a neighbor's yard.

"He was such a good little boy," mother Misty Gilroy told WCNC.

Karson Dylan Gilroy had been in a house where relatives were baby-sitting, family members said. They said a cousin left the door open, Karson wandered off, and that cousin told an adult 15 minutes later that Karson was gone.

Dog owner Wayne Oliver said he doesn't know what happened.

"They don't bark, they don't grab, just as docile as could be," Oliver said. He said what happened is a tragedy.

"There's nothing I could have done -- the dogs were in the yard and they were chained," he said.

Authorities hope to finish their investigation by early next week, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said.

Two sheriff's detectives were first to spot the missing toddler after an hour-long search, Sheriff's Detective Lt. Hal Kluttz said. The detectives attended a morning counseling session with other officials involved in Tuesday's search and were working Wednesday, he said.

No charges have been filed, the Sheriff's Office said.

The dogs will be kept at the Lincoln County Animal Control office for 10 days before being euthanized.

Observer special correspondent Kara Lopp and WCNC reporter Tony Burbeck contributed.

 

Family, friends mourn boy mauled by dog

September 29, 2007
By DIANA RUGG / WCNC
E-mail Diana: DRugg@wcnc.com

LINCOLN CO., N.C. -- Saturday morning, one group of mourners after another exchanged hugs outside New Vision Ministries in Lincoln County.

Inside the church, a small white casket lay draped with a baby blanket, while pictures of two-year-old Karson Gilroy dissolved one into another overhead.

Pastor Scott Mann said his duties as the church's leader this week have been the hardest he's ever experienced.

"I just had to see some things and do some things I've never done before," said Mann, "and I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

Mann was with Karson's family when doctors told them their little boy was dead.

Lincoln County Sheriff's deputies say Karson slipped out of his great-grandmother's home and wandered into a yard with two German Shepherd mixes. The dogs were both chained, but Karson was mauled to death.

Both dogs are in the custody of Lincoln County animal control, where they are likely to be euthanized unless their owner successfully petitions to get one back.

Karson's mother was wracked with grief when she spoke to WCNC Thursday.

"He was such a good little boy," said Misty Gilroy. "He was very smart, he was learning so much.. he was learning to potty train and everything and he was doing good."

Gilroy said she had looked forward to Karson starting school, and cheering him on as he played sports.

Instead, she buried the toddler Saturday.

Pastor Mann said Karson's friends and relatives will remember a little boy that was full of life in his time on Earth.

"He'll be remembered as a young boy that was real vibrant, that played and had fun," said Mann. "Just a little boy -- rambunctious, and a sweet cute little boy."

 

Dog owner won't be charged
in death of boy, 2

KARA LOPP
Special Correspondent
www.charlotte.com

No charges will be filed in the death of a 2-year-old Lincolnton boy who was killed after wandering too close to a neighbor's dogs last week, the sheriff's office said.

Karson Dylan Gilroy, of the 4100 block of Reepsville Road, was found mauled by at least one German shepherd after an almost hourlong search Sept. 25. The toddler had been eating and watching television at his grandfather's house on Atlantic Lane in Lincolnton when he wandered off.

Police initially thought that male German shepherds, a 1 1/2-year-old and a 4-year-old named Buddy, both played a role in the killing. But they said Tuesday that Buddy's chain couldn't have reached where Karson was found.

Dog owner Wayne Oliver has maintained that since the death and said he'll pay $90 in fees to get Buddy back.

Oliver has allowed the younger dog to be euthanized, a news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said.

Oliver said the younger dog belonged to his late wife, who died in March. He said taking him home wouldn't sit well with him.

"I don't know, I just wouldn't feel right," he said last week.

Animals involved in bite cases or who are aggressive can be reclaimed by their owners after a 10-day waiting period aimed at allowing rabies to be discovered in anyone who was bitten, sheriff's spokesman Larry Seagle said. There is no difference in cases that involve a death, he said.

Neither dog had a current rabies vaccination, Seagle said, and Oliver will be cited.

Oliver, a father himself, said he's having a tough time coping with what happened in his backyard because both dogs had always been friendly and gentle. They hardly barked and have never bitten anyone, he said.

The day of the search Oliver got home about 5 p.m., as family members were looking for Karson, he said. The toddler's grandfather knocked on Oliver's door asking if he had seen Karson and the two searched the neighborhood together.

During the search he and others, including police, passed by the dogs -- and Karson -- at least three times, he said, before finding him.
The dogs watched the activity quietly, he said.

"It's hard," he said, "knowing a little child was found dead in my backyard and knowing one of the animals had something to do with it. This is something nobody wants to go through."

Buddy, he said, makes a morning routine of plopping his food dish at Oliver's feet to be filled. He's playful too, Oliver said.

"He'll lick the heck out of you. He's got a lot of puppy left in him," he said.