DELAND, Fla. – A funeral is set for an 8-year-old boy who was brutally attacked and killed by two dogs near his home in DeLand.
The funeral is set for Wednesday evening.
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Michael Millett, 8, was attacked and killed on Jan. 13 when he was riding his bicycle around a subdivision with a friend and he stopped to pet one of the animals, according to Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
The sheriff said Millett was “maliciously mauled, brutally mauled and killed.” The two dogs - described as a pit bull and a mixed breed - were then captured by Volusia County Animal Services officers.
Chitwood said the owner of the dogs was not on the property at the time of the attack.
“As we went door-to-door last night, we heard horrific stories of how the dogs are always at large, how they destroyed chickens and we’ve gotten some information from another county that it’s possible they were involved in some other type of an incident,” Chitwood said. “... Clearly, this just didn’t happen in a vacuum. These dogs have been terrorizing the neighborhood for a while.”
Deputies reported that the dogs escaped from their owner’s property and went into Millett’s neighborhood. Investigators are now working to have the dogs euthanized, which the family is also advocating for.
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