An investigation is currently underway after an Amazon delivery driver was found mauled to death outside a home in Ray County, Missouri. The man, who was about 50 years old, according to local authorities, was found in a yard with two large dogs at about 7 PM, according to Ray County Sheriff Ray Childers.
Because the dogs, a German Shepherd and an English Mastiff, showed aggression towards the responding deputies and medical staff, one of the deputies shot one of the dogs but did not mortally wound it, says Childers.
“When I arrived on-scene, I observed the body,” Childers said of the deceased driver. “We don’t know the cause of death at this time, nor do we want to make any speculations. However, the body did have a lot of marks on it that would be consistent with canine bites.”
The dogs then retreated back into the house, with one of the dogs having been wounded after being shot by a deputy. Childers said that he ultimately decided to fatally shoot the two dogs, though his office has stated that the investigation into the driver’s death remains ongoing, as they don’t know what caused the driver’s death.
An autopsy will be performed on the deceased delivery driver, while a necropsy will be performed on the dogs to figure out the contents of their stomachs.
“As for me, I love animals,” said Childers on Tuesday. “You know, just a few months ago, I broke up a puppy mill with 90 dogs in it. And, I adopted one of those puppies. And, I love that puppy. You know, I do as much as I can. You know, shooting dogs is not something that I really want to do but, unfortunately, I felt it was a necessity in this case.”
“People are very upset that the dogs were shot,” the Childers said. “I understand that.”
“People will say, ‘Why didn’t you tranquilize them?’” he said. “Well, I don’t know anybody that carries tranquilizers here. Maybe the zoo does, but I don’t have time for that nor do I even know if they would give me tranquilizers or I could even properly administer that. So, we did what we could.”
“The dogs were aggressive, not only toward my deputies but also toward me when I met them in the residence,” he added. “I have to put human safety above the safety of the dogs at that point.”
Amazon is a company worth thousands of billions of dollars. The company began selling books online before becoming an online enterprise which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence (AI) services. According to Ridester, delivery drivers for Amazon are expected to deliver 250 to 300 packages per day.
“We’re deeply saddened by tonight’s tragic incident involving a member of our Amazon family and will be providing support to the team and the driver’s loved ones. We are assisting law enforcement in their investigation,“ Amazon said in a statement obtained by ABC News.