Mother dies protecting her son from dog attack at grandmother’s SoCal home

A pack of dogs being kept by a Southern California grandmother has killed her daughter and injured her grandson in an attack, authorities said.

Emily Panuco, 26, of Parker, Ariz., on Friday visited her mother’s home in Big River, a California town along the Colorado River, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. One of her mother’s dogs had recently had puppies, which were in a cardboard box near the front door, the release said.

When Panuco’s 5-year-old son tried to pet the several-week-old puppies, three adult dogs attacked him, authorities said. Panuco was bitten multiple times as she tried to protect the child and ultimately died of her injuries, according to investigators.

The child was treated at a nearby hospital for two severe dog bites and has since been released, the sheriff’s office said. The adult dogs were euthanized.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Division is investigating the death.

Panuco was a devoted mother to two children who worked at the Colorado Indian Tribes Library, according to an online fundraising page to cover the costs of her funeral services and therapy for her surviving family members.

“Her love for her own family was evident in everything she did,” the organizer wrote, “and her absence leaves a tremendous void.”