Marshall County Boy Attacked & Killed By Dogs on the Peoria.com Forums

How sad !


By GARY SMITH
Journal Star
Posted Aug 25, 2010 @ 12:19 PM
Last update Aug 25, 2010 @ 12:51 PM
VARNA — A 7-year-old boy was attacked and killed by dogs Wednesday morning on a farm outside Varna, Marshall County authorities said.

Jason T. Walter was found about 7:15 a.m. in the driveway of the Eric Shanklin farm, about two miles northeast of Varna, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Walter was taken by ambulance to the Varna Fire Department property to await transport by a LifeFlight helicopter. But the doctor aboard the helicopter pronounced him dead at that site at 8:18 a.m., Coroner David Lenz Jr. said.

Four dogs, including three pit bulls and a mixed breed, were captured at the scene and taken to the Marshall County Veterinary Clinic for quarantine and possible future euthanization, Lenz said.

The dogs were owned by “other residents on the property,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

Preliminary information indicated the boy did not live at the scene, but with his mother, Diane Walter in LaSalle. But it appeared his mother had a relationship with Shanklin, and the two had spent the night there, Lenz said.

An autopsy is scheduled for later today, and the incident remains under investigation by the sheriff and coroner’s

Poor baby.

This makes me sick.

how very sad all around .

Devastating! So SO sad....But I have to ask, who doesn't know their kid is outside with potentially dangerous dogs?

Pit bulls are dangerous, I don't care how they were raised.

i feel bad for everyone involved. espesially for the little guy and his family. even the owner/s of the dogs. what a burden to have to carry. imagine for the rest of their lives they will always have the if only i had...

Not in my experience. There are only a few animals I allow around my children, and one happens to be a pit that has been in the family a LONG time. I'd have to say, she is by far the best dog I've ever seen around children.. not once has she acted aggressively against anyone or any other animal.


As for the story above, life isn't a fairy tale. Animals are dangerous. Animals who show aggressive behavior against anyone should be destroyed. Children should be monitored around animals at all times and caution should be given to animals in your surroundings.

Very sad story.

From the LaSalle newspaper today :


Craig Sterrett
ntlocal@newstrib.com


A 7-year-old La Salle boy was killed in a dog attack Wednesday on a rural property between Varna and Wenona. Four dogs later were destroyed.
Jason T. Walter, a second-grader at Northwest School in La Salle, died a short time after Marshall County authorities responded to a dog attack reported at the home of Eric Shanklin at 2389 Wenona Road, located 2 miles northeast of Varna.
Authorities said family members found Jason lying in the driveway outside the residence and called 911 at approximately 7:15 a.m., according to the report.
Coroner Dave Lenz Jr. said Jason died at 8:18 a.m. Wednesday before a Life Flight helicopter could transport him to Peoria.
An autopsy was performed. Lenz said Jason died from multiple puncture wounds including, “significantly, the carotid femoral artery” in the thigh.
An investigation is pending. Sheriff Rob Russell said three pit bulls and a mixed breed dog were captured and taken to the Marshall County veterinary clinic to be euthanized and then taken to Galesburg for further investigation.
That analysis, Russell said, has so far provided no indication as to which of the dogs inflicted the fatal wounds.
“That’s something I’m not sure we’re ever going to know,” Russell said.
Diane Walter, Jason’s mother, declined comment on the dog attack when reached by telephone Wednesday. Her Facebook page, however, had the following message for friends: “Always remember children are God’s gift. Cherish them and never take them for granted.


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“Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.”
Marshall County state’s attorney Paul Bauer said criminal charges were under review but that no action would be taken until after the autopsy and animal investigation both were completed.
Russell said the mixed-breed dog, which he further described as a “shepherd mix,” belonged to Shanklin and said the three pit bulls belonged to Shanklin’s neighboring tenant, Karen Brady.
Russell said this morning that calls have begun to come in reporting aggressive behavior from at least some of the dogs. Though the mixed-breed has been characterized as “friendly,” Russell said, a cable installer and auto mechanic reported being menaced, though not bitten, when they came to the Shanklin property.
Lenz, too, said Shanklin indicated one of the dogs had “previously shown aggressive tendencies.”
Neither Shanklin nor Brady was available for comment. Shanklin could not be reached by telephone Wednesday and no one answered the door at his home.
Brady’s double-wide trailer, located immediately west of Shanklin’s home, appeared occupied Wednesday afternoon — vehicles were parked outside and an air-conditioner and TV set both were running — but no one came to the door.
Richard Lindstrom lives just east of the Shanklin residence and said he never had a problem either with Shanklin or with any animals. He noted, however, that other dogs appeared earlier this summer when “tenants” (he said he did not know Brady) moved into the trailer.
Lindstrom expressed frustration that the attack was not avoided.
“There’re so many things that can happen in life that we have no control over,” Lindstrom said, “but that, you can control.”
La Salle Elementary superintendent Dan Marenda confirmed Jason was a student at Northwest School. After learning about the death, he said Wednesday, the district was in the process of making social workers available to school children.
The sheriff’s department was assisted by Wenona Ambulance, Varna Fire and Ambulance and Life Flight. State police, the sheriff’s department and the coroner continue to investigate.
Also Wednesday sometime after the accident, David Coble of La Salle filed an emergency order of protection keeping his child from Diane Walter.
This prevents Walter from taking the child to the Shanklin farm. Judge Daniel Bute set a hearing on the motion for Sept. 13 in La Salle County Circuit Court.

I am the boys aunt. For claification, my sister did not know the pits were out. Secondly, she was with my nephew and had forgotten her purse in the house went to go get and that is when it happened. She was only in the house for a little bit.

I don't think anybody here was blaming the Mother at all, and if they were they are a very sad person.

Thanks, I really hope not. I personally feel it is the owners fault. I feel that any dog trained properly is safe but obviously theirs was not. Also I personally believe that dogs need to be in a pen or on a leash when put outside. I don't care if you live in the city or country. If they had done that this would have never happened.

I am so sorry for your loss!

There's a reason pit bulls have the reputation that they do.

Pit bulls, are little different than most people on the street. Oft times dogs develop the attitude and disposition of the person who owns them.

There are factors, other than their upbringing, that determine the behavior of a dog.

I used to have a rottweiller / german shepherd mix....the dog was great with my kids for several years. But as he got older and his vision started to fail, he became increasingly more aggressive and skittish. One day he attacked another dog. The end.

Sounds like people again to me. Thus the "get off my lawn" old man metaphor.