Mother Was Never Worried About Pit Bulls

She tells ABC7 she was not worried about her children around the dogs because she never believed the animals could be dangerous.

Maureen Faibish, mother: "I just wanted to say that my son is the most loving little boy in the world.

Maureen Faibish found her son bleeding on a bedroom floor. Twelve-year-old Nicholas had bite wounds on his head and body.

It's not known if both of the family's pit bulls attacked him, but both snarled at the first officer on the scene. He shot one dog, and the other turned docile only after its capture.

A day later, the apartment steps hold flowers and balloons in memory of the sixth grader.

The mom insists that she was never concerned about leaving her children alone with the dogs.

Maureen Faibish, mother: "Never, never. They're not vicious."

But on Friday, for some reason, they clearly were vicious. The surviving pit bull, Rex, is now in animal control custody; calm, well-behaved, not under sedation, and not showing any signs of abuse or fighting in the past.

Name withheld: "What can set off any dog attack? No one knows."

And no one was home with Nick to witness this one. Police inspectors spent hours collecting evidence, but refused to talk about where the investigation is headed.

Name withheld: "Bad things can happen, with the breeding history and with the way people treat them and raise them. These things can happen."

The fact that it happened to her son seems almost too much for his mother to grasp.

Maureen Faibish, mother: "He is a 12-year-old little boy. And he is a great little boy."

San Francisco police said Nick's father, Stephen Faibish, is now back in town from Oregon, where he's been the past few weeks preparing to move the family there. It's been suggested that his absence and the changes in the household – packing up - may have stressed the dogs and caused behavior changes. But sadly, no one really knows what triggered this tragedy.

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2005