7-year-old girl mauled to death by neighbor’s unleashed pit bull in Louisiana

Davila, of East Baton Rouge, was attacked by a neighbor's unrestrained dog on Friday, reports Daily Mail. A relative of the girl attempted to intervene, but the dog was relentless.

She was rushed to the hospital, where she later passed away from her injuries.

Erick Chinchilla Lopez, 20, the pit bull's owner, was arrested and charged with negligent homicide for failing to control his dog's violence.

According to WAFB, there was no fence or other barrier keeping the dog confined to the owner's home.

The dog is now in Animal Control custody.

Sadie's mother, Haley Anselmo, demanded that Lopez be held responsible.

"My mini me. The light in my heart. Words don't exist for what this feeling is," she wrote on Facebook. "My family is shattered. Please pray for us. Pray they press charges on the dog's owners & hold them responsible."

The post appears to have since been deleted, and replaced with another post indicating that a statement through the family's lawyer will be released soon.

Sadie's father, Mikey Davila, expressed his heartbrokenness in an Instagram post.

"RIP my sweet Sadie Elizabeth, 7-years-old & taken from us in the most violent way. The world is a cruel place. You were the light in my heart," he wrote.

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux expressed his sympathies to Sadie's family.

"This is an awful, heartbreaking tragedy," he told WAFB. "My heart goes out to this family, and they will remain in my prayers."

Sadie's teacher at Woodlawn Elementary School, Grace Feucht, told the outlet, "In her short seven years, she did so much, and so rather than thinking about the things that she didn’t do, I'm thinking about who she was."

"I know going into school on Monday, there are some things in my perspective that will be shifted," she added.

In a statement to Daily Mail, Feucht reflected more on Sadie's personality that was a "gift" to her and her classmates.

"Sadie was fierce and spunky, but she was also tender-hearted and kind. She was fearless and would sing her heart out in front of her classmates. She was a gift to me and made me smile and laugh many times," the teacher said.

"I am so grateful to have had the honor of teaching her," she added.

District Superintendent Sito Narcisse also released a statement, saying, "This news is devastating to our entire school community, as young Sadie was blossoming in the dawn of her life and education with so much promise awaiting her."

"It is difficult to comprehend the enormous pain and remorse her family and friends are experiencing in the wake of this tragedy."

In the last decade that dog bite statistics have been available, it was determined that 185 out of the 430 fatal dog bites in the US were from pit bulls, and pit bull mixes accounted for 41.

In total, pit bull and pit bull mixes accounted for 226 fatalities, or 52.5 percent of all deadly dog attacks.