Pit bull attack leaves owner hospitalized and kills another woman’s dog, raising concerns about animal safety

A quiet Monday afternoon walk in Hallandale Beach ended with one dog dead, another person injured badly enough to be hospitalized, and a neighborhood left asking how a routine moment turned into chaos so fast.

That’s how WPLG Local 10 reporter Brett Knese frames the case in his on-scene report, describing an incident police are still investigating after a violent dog attack near Southeast Second Avenue.

Knese says he spoke with the owner of the dog that was killed, and her account is painfully simple: she was doing the same thing she always does, walking her dog on their normal route, when everything went sideways in seconds.

The woman, Samantha Stone-Lorenzo, is shown holding the collar of her dog, Domino, as she tries to explain what it means to lose him in such a sudden and brutal way.

“I don’t have my best friend anymore,” Stone-Lorenzo tells Knese, her voice heavy with shock. She also says Domino helped her survive the grief of losing her husband, which gives you a sense of how deep this loss cuts for her.

Domino wasn’t a large dog, either. Knese reports he was a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier, the kind of small dog people picture trotting beside them on an easy walk, not caught up in a life-or-death struggle.

And yet, that’s exactly what happened.

A Normal Walk Turned Into A Worst-Case Scene

Knese says Stone-Lorenzo and Domino were out around 4:30 p.m. Monday near their Hallandale Beach home.

She describes seeing two other dogs across the street and says everyone seemed to be doing the polite, careful thing – trying to give each other space, letting the dogs pass without drama.

That detail matters, because it undercuts the idea that this started as a provocation or a reckless decision. According to what Stone-Lorenzo told Knese, this was the kind of everyday encounter dog owners deal with all the time.

But then one dog, described as what “looked to be some sort of pit bull mix,” suddenly went out of control.

Knese reports Stone-Lorenzo’s claim that the dog dragged its owner to the ground, and then attacked Domino.

That image is hard to shake because it shows two frightening things at once: the small dog being targeted, and the attacking dog’s owner losing physical control so completely that they ended up on the ground during the struggle.

It also raises the uncomfortable issue that a leash, by itself, is not always enough if the handler can’t hold the animal back.

Knese says the commotion drew the attention of strangers nearby – people who likely heard shouting, saw the struggle, and rushed toward it.

But even with people noticing and reacting, Stone-Lorenzo says it was too late.

Domino was killed.

And the owner of the dog that attacked, Knese reports, was hospitalized.

That’s a key part of the story that complicates the easy villain narrative. In this version of events, the person walking the attacking dog wasn’t just a bystander – they were injured, too, and in a way serious enough that they ended up in the hospital.

It’s the kind of outcome that leaves everyone losing something: one family loses a pet, another person is hurt, and whatever trust people felt walking their own dogs in that area takes a hit.

The Aftermath: Grief, Anger, And A Demand For Accountability

Stone-Lorenzo’s grief comes through clearly in Knese’s report, but so does something else: a fierce, protective anger that shows up when people feel like a tragedy was preventable.

She tells Knese she hopes the hospitalized owner recovers quickly, which is a human response and honestly the least you’d hope for in a moment like this.

But in the same breath, she says she believes the dog that attacked Domino should be euthanized.

“My feeling is now that that dog has tasted blood, it needs to be put down,” she says in Knese’s report.

And then she adds something that sounds like she’s trying to be fair, even while devastated: “I would say the same if it was reversed.”

That line is important because it signals she isn’t talking like someone who thinks her own dog is an exception to every rule. She’s saying, as a principle, that once a dog has killed another dog in public, the community has to take it seriously.

You can agree with her or not, but you can’t miss the fear under it.

When people say “it needs to be put down,” what they’re often really saying is: I don’t want this happening to someone else next.

And with a violent incident in a neighborhood setting, that anxiety spreads quickly, because other dog owners start picturing their own walk, their own street, their own small dog, their own child.

It’s also where the broader debate always sneaks in—about breed stereotypes, about irresponsible ownership, about training, about leash laws, about what “dangerous” even means, and about whether officials respond fast enough before another incident happens.

Knese doesn’t turn his report into a policy lecture, but the situation itself pushes you toward those questions.

Because when a dog can overpower its owner so thoroughly that the owner ends up on the ground, it forces a basic, uncomfortable thought: if you can’t physically control the animal, should you be the one handling it in public?

That isn’t about blaming someone for getting hurt. It’s about acknowledging reality.

A leash is a tool, not a guarantee. And “friendly most of the time” doesn’t help much when “one time” ends in a dead pet.

What Police Say And What Comes Next

Knese reports that police are continuing to investigate what happened.

He also says police told Local 10 that animal control has been notified, which is the step people immediately want to hear after a serious attack.

But the report also makes clear that, at least at the time Knese was live, there was not yet a public answer about what will happen to the dog that attacked Domino.

Knese says he was working to get an update on what “will come of that dog,” and he promised viewers they would be updated as officials learn more.

That “waiting period” is often the most frustrating part for victims, because the harm has already happened, the loss is permanent, and yet the consequences can feel slow and uncertain.

In many communities, the system moves in stages: collect statements, confirm facts, involve animal control, determine whether the animal has a history, check vaccination records, decide on quarantine or restrictions, and then potentially move toward more severe outcomes.

But to a person who just watched their dog die, that process can feel like a blur of paperwork after something deeply personal and violent.

And that gap – between grief and bureaucracy – is where distrust grows, even if officials are doing what they’re supposed to do.

Why This Story Hits A Nerve For Dog Owners

There’s a reason stories like this travel fast, and it’s not just because the word “pit bull” triggers attention online.

It’s because walking a dog is one of the most normal, everyday routines people have, and this incident shows how quickly “normal” can break.

Knese’s report paints the scene as ordinary right up until it isn’t: a walk near home, another dog passing by, strangers nearby, and then suddenly a small dog is gone.

For owners of small dogs, it taps into a fear they don’t always say out loud—that size is a vulnerability you can’t train away.

For owners of large dogs, it raises another uncomfortable pressure point: the responsibility of handling strength, drive, and unpredictability, even when you believe your dog is well-behaved.

And for everyone, it brings up the question of what safety looks like in shared public spaces where animals and humans cross paths constantly.

Blame Doesn’t Fix Much, But Standards Matter

It’s easy for people to fall into two lazy reactions: either “that breed is the problem” or “it’s always the owner.”

Real life is messier than that, and incidents like the one Knese reports usually involve a chain of factors – control, environment, the dog’s history, the handler’s ability, and how quickly the situation escalated.

But “messy” doesn’t mean “nothing can be done.” If a dog can drag its owner to the ground, that’s a flashing warning sign that the handler setup may not be safe for public walking, regardless of breed.

There’s a difference between judging someone and saying, plainly, that certain situations require stronger controls – training, equipment, support, or maybe a different plan entirely.

The most haunting part of Knese’s report is that Domino wasn’t the one who started anything; he was a small dog on a walk, and the outcome was final.

People often talk about “dog fights” like they’re equal contests, but they aren’t, especially when one animal is much smaller.

That’s why this kind of incident often leaves a community with more than sadness. It leaves a demand for prevention, because it feels wrong to treat a dead pet as just an unfortunate accident of daily life.

A Neighborhood Left With Grief And Unanswered Questions

By the end of Brett Knese’s report, the facts are clear enough to be upsetting, but not yet clear enough to feel resolved.

A dog is dead. A dog owner is hospitalized. A woman is holding a collar and saying she lost her best friend.

Police are investigating. Animal control has been notified. And the bigger question – what happens next, and how to keep it from happening again – hangs in the air.

For Stone-Lorenzo, the walk that should have been routine became a permanent line in her life: before Domino, and after Domino.

And for everyone else watching, it’s a reminder that animal safety isn’t just about loving pets – it’s about the hard, sometimes uncomfortable responsibility of making sure control and caution match the reality of what can happen in a few terrifying seconds.