Charges Urged Against Owner Of Pit Bulls That Attack 5-year-old

DEL CITY, Okla. (AP) Investigators are urging charges against the owner of four pit bull terriers that mauled a 5-year-old boy. <br/><br/>Antwon Moore, 19, of Del City, received 27 city citations after

Tuesday, December 19th 2006, 9:00 am

By: News On 6

DEL CITY, Okla. (AP) Investigators are urging charges against the owner of four pit bull terriers that mauled a 5-year-old boy.

Antwon Moore, 19, of Del City, received 27 city citations after Friday's attack. Moore was in the Oklahoma County jail Monday on an unrelated complaint of failing to appear in court, but police are asking county prosecutors to charge him following the attack, Detective Jody Suit said.

The dogs were roaming a neighborhood when they came across Xavier Gomez of Del City, who was playing in a grassy area behind his home, Suit said.

Police credit a neighbor, Dino Cerda, 57, with saving the boy's life. Cerda jumped a fence and fended off the dogs with a shovel.

Suit said the dogs' owner was tracked through interviews with neighbors. He said Moore admitted the dogs were his before he was told they attacked the boy.

Inside Moore's house, police found a litter of pit bull puppies and an adult pit bull. A dead pit bull was in the back yard, Suit said.

He said three of the dogs that attacked Xavier were captured and euthanized. A fourth was shot dead when it charged a police officer.

Xavier was released Sunday from OU Medical Center, said Petra Martinez, his grandmother. Martinez said Xavier is bruised and has puncture wounds on the front and back of his body, but none of his bones were broken.

``He's getting back to his old self,'' Martinez said. ``He's pretty brave. He hardly cries.'' Xavier was watching movies and playing with action figures Monday afternoon, she said.

City Manager Mark Edwards said it is illegal in Del City to possess a pit bull terrier. The city ordinance was in effect before the 1991 state law prohibiting breed-specific ordinances, so the city code is grandfathered in, he said.

Suit said Moore was issued citations for each of the pit bull terriers in his possession, allowing the dogs to run at large, animal cruelty and failing to have tags to certify the dogs had rabies immunizations.

If found guilty of violating the city ordinances, Moore could be fined as much as $524 and sentenced up to 60 days in jail for each offense, Suit said.