Child fatally mauled in Elmont was from Baldwin

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The child who died this weekend as a result of injuries sustained when a dog attacked her was from Baldwin, police and school district officials confirmed today.

Nassau police identified the child as Amiyah Dunston of Baldwin. Baldwin schools Superintendent Shari Camhi said the girl was a fourth-grader at Plaza Elementary School.

According to Nassau police, 911 on Sunday received a call about a dog attacking a child in the rear yard of a home on Holland Avenue in Elmont.

Upon arrival around 10:30 a.m., two Nassau County Fifth Precinct officers entered the rear yard and saw a male pit bull attacking a young girl, police said.

A third officer walked through the house, opened the back door and the pit bull stopped its attack on the 9-year-old female victim and charged toward the third officer. That officer fired several rounds, killing the dog, police said.

The victim, who was visiting the Holland Avenue home at the time of the incident, was taken to Franklin Hospital, where she died at 1:42 p.m.

Police said there is no apparent criminality, although the investigation is continuing. But the owner of the dog, Carlyle Arnold, 29, of Elmont, was arrested on an unrelated charge of violation of an order of protection.

In Baldwin, the school district was calling on a crisis intervention team to work with students and faculty. A planned ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new TV studio at Baldwin High School was cancelled.