WESLACO, Texas (AP) – A pit bull fatally mauled a 5-year-old boy staying at a southern Texas home with relatives, authorities said.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday. Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Rosa Trevino said the condition of the child’s body suggested there was no way emergency responders could have saved his life.

Luis Palomo, 20, said he was down the street playing football with friends when the trouble began. He said the victim was at home with a baby sitter when one of two pit bulls at the house began running around the front yard, getting a second pit bull inside the home riled up.

Palomo said the baby sitter and boy were inside the house with the second dog and were scared, so he tried to intervene. While he managed to distract the dogs temporarily, the boy wandered out the back door. One of the dogs grabbed the boy by the torso and dragged him, locking its jaws around the boy’s neck, Palomo said.

AP-ES-06-19-08 0740EDT

Authorities were trying to determine whether the dog had been confined and how it came in contact with the boy, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.