ALABASTER, Ala. (WIAT) — A 6-month-old girl has died after being involved in a dog attack in Alabaster on Friday morning, Alabaster police confirmed.
According to Bibb County Coroner Patrick Turner, the victim was taken to Children’s of Alabama after being attacked by a dog on Friday. Turner said the baby was from Bibb County, though the attack happened at a family member’s home in Shelby County.Mother told police she drowned 4-year-old son to get demons out of him: police
Alabaster police said the attack happened around 10 a.m. Friday at a home on 10th St SW. Police said it was a family member’s home and dog.
According to police, there were two dogs at the home when the attack happened. Both were taken into a 10-day quarantine by animal control.
Alabaster police are investigating the case. Police said they are not pursuing charges at this time but are leaving it up to the Shelby County district attorney and grand jury.
Anna Southard is the mother of 6-month-old Ember Renee Southard. She said her daughter was attacked by an 11-year-old American Bully.
Southard did not wish to do an on-camera interview but answered questions via email. The questions and responses are as follows:
How are you and your family holding up right now amidst this tragedy?
“My family isn’t holding up,” Southard replied. “We lost a perfect baby. My daughter. We lost my daughter in a horrible accident within 20 minutes.”
Can you tell me what happened on Friday? Who was Ember with and what led up to the attack? What kind of dog was it that attacked her?
“Friday morning, I went to take my grandmother to a doctor’s appointment at 9:40, I was going to just take my daughter with me but my family said 20 minutes would be fine,” Southard wrote. “We hadn’t even checked in at the doctor, we hadn’t even been gone 20 minutes, before we got a phone call from the family member watching her. I raced home, and got there just behind the ambulance. My daughter already looked dead. I hit my knees in the driveway hard enough to make them bleed. I heard dog attack. My grandfather got there the same time I did. They got Ember in the ambulance, and I rode upfront. I kept begging for her to be okay but I already knew my daughter wasn’t going to live. I knew it the moment I saw her blue and unmoving. She was with this family member for 20 minutes. She was attacked by an American Bully, an 11 year old dog that had been around countless children, and has never harmed one before.”
How did you find out what happened? What were your first thoughts when you heard?
“My first thoughts were rage,” Southard stated. “The family member fell asleep with my daughter on their chest, my daughter fell from their chest and was mauled by the dog. They then called my nanny, and then 911. The family member is epileptic and had a seizure AFTER my daughter was in the ambulance. Trauma at Children’s did their best, and before she went up to the OR they told me it was very touch and go, and unlikely my daughter would live. I still begged them to. At 1:10 Ember passed away despite over a dozen doctors best interest.”
