ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Disaster Precursors - 92-Year-Old Woman Dies Following Attack By Pack Of Dogs In Olympia, Washington?!

92-year-old Gladys Alexander dies after dog attack

March 9, 2016 - WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - A woman who was the victim of a violent attack by dogs has died, according to the Harborview Medical Center.

Gladys Alexander, 92, walked across the street late Sunday to give her neighbor a newspaper when she was attacked by four pit bull mix dogs.

Thurston County Sheriff's investigators say the homeowner was running errands and returned home to find the dogs attacking Alexander. She stopped the attack.

Only a KIRO 7 camera was there as investigators for Thurston County Animal Services removed the dogs from the Scott Lake home near Olympia.

Their docile demeanor, a stark contrast to the way they behaved when a television crew showed up Monday.


WATCH: World War II veteran dies from injuries suffered in dog bite.

It was very likely the same way they seemed late Sunday afternoon when Gladys Alexander walked into the house while, unbeknownst to her, the homeowner was away. Those who saw Alexander after the attack said the dogs tore away nearly all the flesh from a leg and an arm.

She died at 11:55 a.m. Tuesday at Harborview Medical Center.

As word spread, those living in her tight-knit neighborhood began bringing flowers to her home. The authorities say that though Alexander was killed by the dogs, no crime was committed because they were confined to their home and she, in effect, trespassed.

It is a bitter pill, however, for those who knew her.

"I understand that," said Nancy Jenrette. "At the same time, it just feels so criminal that she had to have suffered so tragically and that she ended up having to die in this manner. It's just horrific."

The owner of the dogs has agreed to have one dog euthanized. The other three dogs belong to her daughter who is in jail.

They will all be quarantined for 10 days while a decision is made about their fate.

Law enforcement on dog attacks in Western Washington

After a 63-year-old woman was attacked by pitbulls in SeaTac in summer 2009, King County Sheriff John Urquhart - then a sergeant and department spokesman -- said deputies see more animal-related calls in the summer.

"People will say there are no bad dogs, just bad dog owners," he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the time. "We don't agree with that."

Seattle Animal Shelter Don Jordan has said Seattle's approach is to "focus on the deed, not the breed." He has that take after that SeaTac attack and another in that city, and had the same response when there were calls to ban Rottweilers in Seattle in the 1990s.

In 2012, the last complete year for which KIRO 7 has complete data, there were 30 reports of pit bulls biting humans, more than any other dog breed.

There were 18 reports for Labrador retrievers and nine reports for Rottweilers that year. - KIRO7.

MASS SHOOTINGS: Emotional Trauma And Physical Wounds After Shooting At Seattle Pacific University - 1 Dead, 3 Hurt; Could Have Been Much Worse!

June 06, 2014 - SEATTLE, UNITED STATES - When a lone gunman armed with a shotgun at a small Seattle University stopped firing at students to reload, another student pepper-sprayed him and subdued him with the help of others and prevented more deaths, police said.

Seattle police SWAT team members prepare their gear after the shooting.  AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

“There are a number of heroes in this,” Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said. “The people around him [the gunman] stepped up.”

A 19-year-old man was fatally shot and two other young people were wounded after the gunman entered the foyer at Otto Miller Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus and started shooting Thursday afternoon. When he paused to reload, a student building monitor disarmed him. The gunman had additional rounds and a knife, McDonagh said.

“But for the great response by the people of Seattle Pacific, this incident might have been much more tragic,” he said.

The man in custody was not a student at the school, McDonagh told a news conference.

Four people, including the young man who died, were rushed to Harborview Medical Center. A critically wounded 20-year-old woman was in intensive care late Thursday night after about five hours in surgery, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. A 24-year-old man was hospitalized in satisfactory condition. A Seattle Fire Department official said the man suffered “pellet type wounds” to his neck and chest.

A 22-year-old man was treated and released, Gregg said. Police said he suffered minor injuries during the struggle with the suspect.

None of the victims was immediately identified.

Aaron R. Ybarra, 26, was booked into the King County Jail late Thursday for investigation of homicide, according to police and the jail roster.

Also late Thursday, police who said they were serving a warrant entered a house that was believed tied to Ybarra. A phone message left at that house in the north Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace was not immediately returned.

The scene of a shooting Thursday.  AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Police say a university student on Thursday disarmed a lone gunman who entered a building and shot four people.AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Messages left with friends and relatives of Ybarra via social media were not immediately returned.

The Seattle Times said the suspect’s father, Ambrose Ybarra, said he doesn’t know anything of the incident.

“We just hope he’s safe,” he told the paper. “It’s upsetting to have these accusations thrown around. We’re in emergency mode. We are trying to stay calm.”

The paper said Zack McKinley described himself as one of Ybarra’s closest friends and said he was “super happy and friendly.”

McKinley said the attack was puzzling because Ybarra had happy to have just started a new job bagging groceries at a store.

He said Ybarra didn’t do drugs or drink alcohol and spent time writing. Ybarra could get emotionally low, but McKinley said he had a good group of friends and never saw him depressed.

Student Chris Howard was at Otto Miller Hall when the shooting happened. He said he saw the wounded young woman on the floor being tended to by a classmate. Her chest was bloodied. Her phone was covered in blood, but she asked her helpers to look through her phone for her mother, aunt and best friend.

“She was panicking,” Howard said. “She said ‘I think I’m going to die.”‘

Soon after, police arrived. By then the suspect had been subdued. Howard ran outside and back through the lobby where he saw the man pinned on the floor.

“The suspect was calm. Not speaking. Not moving. Not struggling. Just there,” Howard said.

The afternoon shooting came a week before the end of the school year, and the situation was particularly tense when police initially reported that they were searching for a second suspect.

“It appears the suspect acted alone,” McDonagh said.

He said he did not know the gunman’s motive or intended target. Detectives are “working as quickly as we can to figure it out,” McDonagh said.

Medics wheel away a person shot at Seattle Pacific University on Thursday.  AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo

Seattle police investigate the scene after a shooting at Seattle Pacific University on Thursday. 
AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo

A Seattle police SWAT team member rides on an emergency vehicle following the shooting Thursday.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

The university locked down its campus for several hours, and it alerted students and staff to stay inside. Some students were taking finals in the same building that the shooter entered.

Both the young man who died and the young woman suffered gunshot wounds to the body, Seattle Fire Assistant Chief Jay Hagen told the news conference.

On Thursday evening, people packed the First Free Methodist Church on campus for a service of prayers and song. So many people crowded into the building that dozens of people gathered on a lawn near the church and formed their own groups as the sun set.

“We’re a community that relies on Jesus Christ for strength, and we’ll need that at this point in time,” said Daniel Martin, university president.

About 4,270 undergraduate and graduate students attend the private Christian university. Its 40-acre campus is in a leafy residential neighbourhood about 10 minutes from downtown Seattle. The school cancelled classes and other activities Friday.

Jillian Smith was taking a math test on the second floor of Otto Miller Hall when a lockdown was ordered.

She heard police yelling and banging on doors in the hallway. The professor locked the classroom door, and the 20 or so students sat on the ground, lining up at the front of the classroom.

“We were pretty much freaking out,” said Smith, 20, a sophomore. “People were texting family and friends, making sure everyone was OK.”

About 45 minutes later, police came and escorted them out of the building two by two, she said. On the way, they passed the lobby where she saw bullet casings and what appeared to be blood on the lobby carpet and splatter on the wall.

“Seeing blood made it real,” Smith said. “I didn’t think something like this would happen at our school.”

The gun violence follows a spate of recent shootings on or near college campuses.

Last month, according to police, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured seven before turning his gun on himself in a rampage in Isla Vista, California, near two universities.

Seven people were killed and three injured when a 43-year-old former student opened fire at a tiny Christian school, Oikos University, in Oakland, California, in 2012. A gunman killed five people and injured 18 when he opened fire in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall in 2008.

In 2007, 32 people were fatally shot in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before the gunman killed himself.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, noting previous mass shootings in the city, said: “Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle.” - National Post.