Kennewick dog attack injures 2-year-old playing in front yard
A Tri-Cities toddler is recovering from some severe gashes to his face after being bitten by an unknown dog.
Jaxson Grayson, 2, was playing with his dog and his aunt’s dogs in her Kennewick front yard when the other dog attacked.
“It was completely unprovoked,” his mom Katrina Cassens told the Herald.
Jaxson’s dog scared the other dog away, but not before the boy’s eye and face were injured.
The attack happened about 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning on West 37th Avenue, near Horse Heaven Hills Middle School.
Jaxson’s grandmother saw the attack, but it was so quick that she wasn’t able to get a good look at the dog. They believe it was a possibly a brown, medium-sized dog, possibly a mixed-breed terrier.
But without a good description, animal control officers couldn’t search for it, said Cassens.
She said a Kennewick officer helped scour the neighborhood, but they were not able to find it. She is reaching out to anyone in the area who may have a security camera that could identify the dog.
“I am not going to let this go until I find it,” she said on Facebook.
“I just want the dog found so it doesn’t happen again,” she said, hoping the owners will turn the dog over.
Jaxson underwent some surgery on Thursday and they will know more about the lasting damage as he heals, but it’s looking as good as it could be, Cassens said.
“He was in a good mood, full of energy last night,” she said. “He keeps saying, ‘I’m a tough, boy.’”
Kennewick police are also investigating three crimes — an arson, burglary and stabbing — that happened about an hour apart earlier Thursday morning.
▪ A 32-year-old man was stabbed on the 800 block of North Tweedt Street at 4 a.m.
He was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive.
Police have served at least one search warrant, according to a Kennewick news release but no other details were released.
▪ At 4:35 a.m., Kennewick police were called to the Harley-Davidson store on 3305 W. 19th Ave. when a neighbor saw a man inside the fence and heard an engine start.
When officers arrived they found Sean D. Sylvester, 31, a transient, walking away. As officers questioned him, they found he had been on the property, and had a key for one of the Yamaha 4-wheelers.
He was booked into the Benton County jail on investigation of second-degree burglary.
▪ And police were called to investigate a vehicle on fire at 5:15 a.m. on the 1000 block of East Fourth Avenue.
Witnesses reported seeing a man set the vehicle and a trailer on fire before running away.
Anyone with information on the crimes is asked to contact police through the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333.
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 6:07 PM.