By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Millington community was rocked last week by the tragic news of two children dying after their family pets attacked them.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office detectives were on the scene at the 700 block of Sylvan Road near Shelby Forest State Park on Oct. 5 where at about 3:30 p.m. two family dogs attacked a 2-year-old girl, a 5-month-old boy. The mother was also attacked by the two pit bulls. The mother was transported to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis with multiple bites and wounds. Unfortunately the children were pronounced deceased on the scene.
Later the children were identified as 5-month-old boy, Hollace Dean Bennard, and his 2-year-old sister, Lilly Jane.
The dogs were family pets of the Bernard’s for several years. The pets named Cheech and Mia suddenly attacked a 2-year-old girl, her 5-month-old brother and their mother around 3:30 p.m. that day. The husband and father, Colby, was not present when the attack occurred.
Colby’s uncle, Jeff Gibson, who is an officer with the Millington Police Department kept the public updated through the passing week via Facebook.com.
“Just an update on my nephew and his wife,” he stated. “As of yet there are no funeral arrangements for the kids. Kirstie is still in the hospital with an uncountable amount of stitches and bite marks over her entire body including her face.
“Both arms and legs are bandaged/wrapped up completely,” he continued. “As of now it looks like there isn’t any permanent damage other than a heart that will never heal.”
Gibson said his niece-in-law is a hero for her efforts during the attack to save her children.
According to family, once Kirstie woke up in the hospital she was aware of the attack and what happened. Earlier this week Kirstie was released from the hospital.
“This attack lasted (more than) 10 minutes and she never gave up trying to save these babies,” Gibson noted. “Now all of us, family and friends, have to rally around both of them and show them how much they are loved . I don’t know if there can be a healing process but hopefully we can all find a way to cope with this tragedy.”
Colby, who manages a Harley-Davidson dealership in Memphis, has been receiving support from his work family, community and those closest to him in the proceeding days. There has been a GoFundMe set up and only one true account related to this tragedy at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-bennards?qid=659b2411b896325152007d463831800f
