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ATLANTA - Atlanta police say a 6-year-old was attacked Friday evening in his grandmother's southwest Atlanta neighborhood by two vicious dogs.
It happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of Mayland Circle. The mother of Aaron Smith told FOX 5 New it is the most difficult thing she has ever had to watch. Paramedics rushed the first grader to Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Egleston.
"He leaped onto my son and bit him in his face. I was screaming and I was running. It was all happening so fast," said mother Monica Smith.
Ms. Smith said she was talking with an old friend when the dog attacked her son. The Avondale Elementary first grader was playing with several other children when the attack happened. Some of the children went to open their door and take She said she looked back to see the dog on top of her son.
"I saw kids running away from a yard, as I looked in the yard, I looked down, saw my child being jerked back and forth,” said Smith. "At that moment I didn't know what to do. I was just praying, praying, praying.”
They were able to get the dog off the young child. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital. Neighbor Jonathan Hughes witnessed the attack and jumped in to help.
"I started hollering get off of him and I think I scared the dogs. They snatched him down again. They snatched him down 3 times ...right in his face, one had his leg and they were dragging him," Mr. Hughes said.
Ms. Smith said she had a panic attack and could not help. She considered Mr. Hughes and another man her guardian angels, who literally saved Aaron's life.
"I think if I wouldn't have hollered… I think they would have killed him," the neighbor shared.
“I can't stop picturing it. It's all in my head,” said Smith.
Ms. Smith said her child will likely need some stitches, but thankfully no plastic surgery. She said the family is surrounding him with positivity and faith, trying to comfort him through his pain.
According to the Atlanta Area Animal Rescue, the dogs suspected of the attack have been impounded, and a court date has been set for June.