Posted June 08, 2018 07:13:03 A Texas man was charged Tuesday with murder for fatally shooting his 2-year-old daughter, who was bitten by a pit bull, police said.

Police said 31-yearold Robert Darnell Smith shot and killed the girl near a home in the 700 block of West Highway 59 in northeast Dallas, about 30 miles southeast of Houston.

Investigators said the dog was barking, but didn’t bite the child.

The girl’s mother, 34-year old Amy, had gone to check on her daughter.

She said the pit bull attacked and bit her daughter, striking her in the face and neck.

Police arrested Smith, who is scheduled to appear in court in Texas District Court.

He was charged with first-degree murder.

Amy, who had not been identified by police, said her daughter was in the house with her mother when she saw the pit bulls attack.

She tried to calm the dog down, she said, but it would not leave her daughter alone.

The dog then bit Amy in the neck and neck area and bit the mother in the back, Amy said.

Amy said the family went to the hospital to get her daughter’s blood drawn and examined.

Amy’s son said he believes his mother may have suffered permanent brain damage and had no recollection of the incident.

Amy told the Houston Chronicle that she hopes authorities can find out why the pitbull attacked Amy and that she was in an “imminent state of distress.”

Amy said her son has PTSD and that he wants answers.

“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Amy said in a statement.

“My son will be forever indebted to his mother for helping save his life.”

Amy and her son had moved into a trailer home on a private land in southwest Dallas after the family moved to the city to work in a veterinary practice.

Amy was pregnant with Amy’s second child.

Police did not release the girl’s name.