SELMA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A Selma family is grieving the death of 59-year-old Richard ‘Hutch’ Barry after a pack of English Bulldogs mauled him to death Sunday afternoon.
“Just seeing the look on his face, straight terror,” said Teresa Barry, the victim’s sister-in-law.
She relived the moment the attack happened, trying to understand how –and why — the dogs mauled Hutch to death while he was walking near Goldridge and Balboa streets.
“These dogs are all over him, they’re just biting, biting.”
Teresa said her brother-in-law was visiting her husband that day and left to walk over to a friend’s house before 1 p.m. Teresa and her husband drove by soon after, hearing his screams. Teresa said her husband has ALS, so he asked her to step in.
“And he’s just screaming ‘Help me! Help me!'”
She said some neighbors tried to intervene but were unsure of what to do against all five dogs. Teresa said she grabbed a bat from a bystander and tried separating the bulldogs.
“I ended up on the ground, three of them came straight at my face.”
She suffered minor injuries before police and animal control got on scene, initially struggling to capture and quarantine the canines.
It was caught on camera –officers appear to tase and shoot the animals to get them under control.
“The dogs were ready to attack everybody,” said Teresa.
“It was dogs with blood,” one eyewitness, Nayla Toledo, recalls.
“The dogs will be in custody until this case is adjudicated, at which time animal control will make an assessment on their viability to return home, if at all,” said Selma PD Chief Rudy Alcaraz.
The chief said the pet owner was not home when the attack happened, but he is cooperating with the investigation.
“He seems to be very shaken up by the incident,” said Alcaraz, adding that these incidents are very rare.
Selma PD said in Fresno County, there’ve been three cases in the last 20 years.
In the meantime, Hutch’s loved ones call for justice.
“I’m feeling lost, confused,” said Teresa. “Feel like I failed him. And I feel like I failed my husband by not being able to rescue his brother.”
The victim’s family has set up a GoFundMe account to cover his funeral expenses.
