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On Saturday, December 5, 2015, Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy has charged Geneke Antonio Lyons, 41 (DOB: 1/12/74) of Detroit, in connection with the fatal dog mauling of a boy. On December 2, 2015 at approximately 12:24 p.m., a Detroit police sergeant responded to a police run to a location in the 15000 block of Baylis where four-year-old Xiaver Strickland was dragged away from his mother by dogs as they walked down Baylis Street. The child was fatally attacked by four dogs in the backyard of the house owned by Lyons. The sergeant observed the attack and fired his weapon to get the dogs off of the boy. The child was observed on the ground lying on his back with massive wounds. He later was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Three of the dogs were killed by the shots fired at the scene. A fourth dog was quarantined and later euthanized.

The defendant lived at the Baylis address and is alleged to have owned all four of the dogs involved in the attack. It is further alleged that the dogs were dangerous animals and had escaped their fenced area in the past and had been a known problem in the neighborhood.

Lyons has been charged with Second Degree Murder, Manslaughter, Possessing Dangerous Animals Causing Death. The defendant was arraigned in 36th District Court today before Magistrate Dawn M. White and remanded to jail. The Probable Cause Conference is scheduled for December 14, 2015 at 8:30 a.m.; the Preliminary Examination is scheduled for December 22, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. before Judge Lydia Nance-Adams.

Prosecutor Worthy said, "The evidence in this case will show that these dogs saw this child as a meal and we believe that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged actions of the defendant in this case rise to the level of Murder in the Second Degree. It is a gross understatement to say that this case is a harrowing example of irresponsible pet ownership."

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