Other fatal dog attacks

In August 2016, a 9-year-old Las Vegas boy was mauled to death at a friend’s home by the friend’s family dog. A Clark County spokesman said that the “pit bull mix” was euthanized the next day.

In March 2015, a 79-year-old Pahrump man was attacked by three of his neighbor’s pit bulls. Though the attack was in Nye County, the man was airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he died about a month later. The dog owner was arrested after the attack.

In April 2012, a 1-year-old Henderson boy died from blunt-force injuries to the head and neck the night of his first birthday party during an accidental attack by his family’s dog.

The family did not face charges, but a two-year legal battle ensued over whether the family’s dog would be euthanized.

The dog, Onion, a mastiff-rhodesian ridgeback, was released in January 2014 to the Lexus Project, an animal rights group based in New York.

In November 2008, Las Vegas police said a 2-year-old boy was mauled to death by a family dog. The boy was in his grandmother’s care. The dog was described as a pit bull or pit bull mix.

In September 2008, a 4-month-old girl was fatally mauled while being watched by her grandmother.

One of the family’s two pit bulls opened a sliding glass door and attacked the baby while she was in a stroller, according to the Clark County district attorney’s office. The dogs were shot to death by North Las Vegas police. Facebook, “I am so sad and broken inside over the loss of my sweet, gorgeous wife of 26 years.”

No one answered the door at the Sweeney home Friday evening, but a man who lives nearby said he noticed the police cars Monday night in the quiet neighborhood.

Nathan Mcgrath, 51, said he saw the Sweeneys occasionally but did not know them well. He said he saw the dog for the first time Monday night.

“I saw it jump into the police truck,” he said.

A Gofundme account has been set up by the family to help with funeral costs.

Susan Sweeney is survived by her husband and their two sons, Brandon and Dylan.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-3830381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Review-journal staff writer Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.