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NEED TO KNOW
- An 8-year-old girl was badly injured in a dog attack outside her home in Hollywood, Fla., on Oct. 24
- The child was hospitalized after suffering facial injuries during the incident
- The girl’s mother claimed it wasn’t the first time the dog, which belongs to a neighbor, had attacked
An 8-year-old girl has been hospitalized following a dog attack in Florida.
The child was attacked by the animal outside an apartment in Hollywood while she was returning home from school at around 2:30 p.m. local time on Friday, Oct. 24, CBS News Miami reported, citing Hollywood Fire Rescue.
The girl’s mother, Keyrelly Jean Castro, told the outlet that she had just picked up her daughter, who is autistic, from school, and as the child ran towards their apartment door, their neighbor’s dog approached and bit her.
“She was over there. And the dog attacked her,” Jean Castro said, translated from Spanish, to CBS News Miami.
The parent then recalled how she watched helplessly as her daughter was mauled by the dog, screaming “kill it” repeatedly during the incident.
The 8-year-old suffered facial injuries in the attack. Hollywood Fire Rescue treated her at the scene before she was transported to a local hospital, CBS News Miami reported.
In photos obtained by the outlet, the girl could be seen in bloodied clothes with a bandage wrapped around her head while she was held by her mother, who was also covered in her daughter’s blood.
One eyewitness said they saw people rush over to help the girl after the attack. They recalled seeing that the good Samaritans “wrapped [her] head in a towel.”
Hollywood Fire & Rescue /Facebook
Jean Castro claimed that the dog that attacked her daughter had shown “aggressive” behavior before. She told CBS News Miami the canine allegedly tried to attack her and her eldest daughter in September.
In a video from the time that she shared with outlet, the dog was captured chasing the pair as they moved furniture outside their home.
Jean Castro claimed to CBS News Miami that the dog ran “from one side of the courtyard to the other” while still on a leash.
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The dog involved was taken away by police after the Oct. 24 incident, the local outlet reported.
Hollywood Fire Rescue did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, Oct. 25.