‘Help! They’re killing my dog’: Elderly woman loses companion in deadly dog attack

By Rachael Perry

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    LAKE WORTH, Florida (WPBF) — An elderly woman wants justice after she said her dog was attacked and killed by three larger dogs.

Lucille Grubbs said she was walking her 3-year-old dog, Bruno, on the front lawn of her Lake Worth home Friday evening when she says her neighbor’s three dogs attacked Bruno.

Grubbs said Bruno was on a leash when the three dogs escaped the neighbor’s yard and came charging at them.

“By the time I was walking to the mailbox to get the mail, they came zooming from around there running out together,” she told WPBF.

She said the dogs ripped the leash out of her hand and took off with Bruno.

“I started screaming out, ‘Help! Help! They’re killing my dog!'” Grubbs said.

Grubbs told WPBF 25 News that one of the dogs had its mouth around Bruno’s neck, and she heard Bruno whimper.

“Then he was gone, and I kept saying get away, get away, and they were just chewing on him just like he was a dinner,” she said.

She went across the street to get help from another neighbor, but said it was too late.

“He came out immediately and tried to find him, but by the time, Bruno was dead and killed,” she said.

Grubbs called Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, and by the time they arrived, she said her neighbor, the owner of the dogs, had already brought them back inside and fixed the fence.

She said she filed a report, but the owner of the three dogs was able to keep them. Grubbs said she doesn’t understand how they’re still there.

“It’s wrong. If they allow them to go unpunished, and they’re cited, and if they have to pay one or two hundred dollars for that, that’s nothing. Part of me is gone. So that’s why I said something needs to be done,” she said.

Grubbs reached out to WPBF 25 News, hoping to get answers.

WPBF 25 News reached out to PBCACC and was told the investigation is active.

A spokesperson said, “Upon our arrival, an investigation was initiated and the three dogs alleged to have been involved in the attack were secured back onto their property, and it was determined that there was currently no threat or concern for public safety.”

Officers confirmed Bruno was dead, and their department received video footage of the incident.

According to ACC, the owner of the three dogs involved received a citation for each dog being at large off its property, failure to provide proof of a current rabies vaccination, and failure to provide proof of a valid county license tag.

“This is currently an active, ongoing Dangerous Dog investigation, and the dogs will remain securely confined with the owner pending any classification and outcome of this investigation,” the spokesperson said.

Grubbs said her neighbor, the owner of the three dogs, hasn’t come to say anything to her or apologize.

“None of them came and said a word to me. None of them. And I think that’s horrible. We’re supposed to be neighbors, and you can’t even tell me, you can’t admit the fact that your dog did that to mine,” Grubbs said.

WPBF 25 News knocked on the neighbor’s door, but the woman who answered through their doorbell camera said to leave.

Grubbs said she got Bruno back in 2022 when her family worried she was getting lonely.

“They said you’ve been by yourself a lot, you need a dog. So that’s why they sent Bruno here,” she said.

Bruno quickly became her shadow.

“If I’m sick, I don’t feel well, Bruno came and lay on my foot. He’d look at me, he’d lie there, and then he’d come and sit in my lap. That was my companion. That was what I had,” she said. “I should not be having to go without him. Not in such a … I can’t look at that video. I cannot look at it.”

Grubbs said she hasn’t been able to sleep and can’t get the image of what happened out of her head.

“What I thought was, I can’t help him. And I’m thinking, I know dogs can’t talk, but they can show emotion. They can show things. He was probably saying, ‘Why won’t my mommy help me?'” she said.

She told WPBF 25 News that Bruno’s death has taken a toll on people in the community, as well as her neighbor across the street, who would often walk him.

“He didn’t hurt anybody. He didn’t bite anybody. When B.J. would come across that street or even when he’d see him, he’d just be wiggling his tail. He loved that dog. That dog loved him. And it affected B.J.,” Grubbs said.

According to Grubbs and another neighbor, they’ve had issues with the three dogs in the past and see them roaming the neighborhood.

Palm Beach County ACC confirmed that they’ve been called to the area once before for one of the dogs running loose.

As of Monday afternoon, the three dogs are still in the care of their owner while ACC continues its investigation.

Grubbs said she wants justice for Bruno before someone else gets hurt.

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