Carteret dogs that killed toddler were a ‘menace,’ neighbors say

CARTERET — The family of the 3-year-old boy killed by pit bulls belonging to a neighbor said they complained about them to their owners twice before only to be laughed off.

The boy was playing in his backyard on Laurel Street Tuesday afternoon when the dogs made their way from nearby Birch Street into the fenced-in backyard, where they fatally mauled the little boy and seriously injured his mother mother.  The boy was hospitalized via medical helicopter and later died.

Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Andrea Boulton on Thursday morning did not have an update on the condition of the boy's mother or if charges had been filed against the owner of the dogs. The dogs have been euthanized, according to Mayor Dan Reiman.

The family told CBS New York they complained twice to the dog's owners.

“They dug their way in and they weren’t provoking the dog. She constantly told the neighbors that these dogs are an issue,” a relative told CBS New York.

A neighbor told ABC 7 Eyewitness News the dogs were a “menace” and roamed the streets to the point where they never let their children play outside.

A GoFundMe page created for the family by coworkers of the boy's father at Coney Island Auto Parts identified the boy as Aziz Ahmed and his father as Tanveer and said they had recently moved from Brooklyn “for a better life.”

"The young mother fought with all she had to save her little boy despite her efforts to save her son his injuries were too severe even with the help of first responders little Aziz could not be saved. As for Aziz's mother she is still fighting for her life and will never full recover form the scars she now has to live with," the page says.

Reiman said the borough's Charity Trust Fund is accepting monetary donations for the family at its website, at a lockbox outside Borough Hall or by mailing a check to 61 Cooke Ave., Carteret, NJ 07008.