Golden grandmother gave life defending family against pit bull attack
The heroic actions of an 89-year-old Golden woman likely saved her great grandson’s life as he was being attacked by the family dogs.
Pit bulls killed Mary Gehring last month after she put herself between the animals and the 12-year-old boy and yelled for him to get help, according to arrest affidavits for the dogs’ owners — who face criminal charges.
Golden Police arrested the boy’s mother, 33-year-old Kayla Sue Mooney. She faces four misdemeanor counts of unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog, according to Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King. A man described in the affidavit as Mooney’s boyfriend, Victor Shane Bentley, 29, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog.
During interviews at the hospital, Mooney told Golden police that Diablo had “always been so gentle with the kids. I don’t know what happened.” Of the other pit bull, Knoxville, she told police the dog would lay with her son for hours and that she watched him very carefully.
Knoxville belonged to Bentley and Diablo was Mooney’s dog, according to the affidavit.
It showed that on Sept. 14, Gehring had driven the boy and his sister to their Golden home after school to pick up books for church. That’s when the two 7-year-old pit bulls started getting aggressive and bit the boy. When Gehring intervened, he ran across the street and flagged a neighbor who called 911.
The neighbor, who would only be identified as “Louise,” told the Denver Gazette that the family had only lived in the single family home for a month and that she had never seen any trouble with the dogs before. She said the boy was bleeding and screaming so loudly, she had to repeat the address the 911 operator.
When officers reached the home at 15712 West 1st Street, they followed a trail of blood leading to the backyard and found Gehring on the ground with the dogs nearby, the warrant said.
The dogs then charged the officers and were shot with what was described as a “less lethal round.” But according to the affidavit the bullets didn’t stop the attack. Court documents showed the dogs began to circle the woman in an attempt to attack her further, but officers were able to get her to safety.
Once the ambulance arrived, the boy was flown to Children’s Hospital Colorado with multiple lacerations to his right hand and left arm. He survived the attack. Gehring lost her left arm and her left eye and was rushed into surgery but was taken off of life support three days after the brutal attack.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office determined that Gehring’s final cause of death was “cardiopulmonary arrest”, due to “complications of extensive bite injuries” and “dog attack.” Her death was listed as accidental.
Both dogs were eventually euthanized.
Mooney and Bentley are due in court Nov. 22 for an advisement of charges. The face misdemeanor penalties if convicted.
The Denver Gazette reached out to the boy’s father, Robbie Mooney, who declined to comment.
