A grandfather and his three-month-old granddaughter died after an alleged dog attack involving multiple pitbulls. Police arrived at a property in Tullahoma, in the US state of Tennessee, at 3pm local time on Wednesday. 

At the scene, they saw pitbulls "actively mauling" a 50-year-old man, James Alexander Smith, and a baby. The dogs, the District Attorney’s office said in a statement, had to be "killed to stop the attack".  

Despite the response of police, by the time the dogs were killed and officers could get to the victims, both Mr Smith and his granddaughter had sadly died. 

The office's statement read: "This was an especially difficult and brutal scene. Please pray for the family of the victims in this difficult time as well as the first responders as they cope with the trauma from what they witnessed. 

MORE TO FOLLOW...