Missouri authorities are investigating after an Amazon delivery driver was found dead in a suspected animal attack Monday night.
The victim, a 49 or 50-year-old man, was found dead outside a home in Excelsior Springs, about 30 miles north of Kansas City, Ray County Sheriff Ray Childers told USA TODAY.
Deputies responded to the home around 7 p.m. after neighbors reported an Amazon van was parked outside the residence for several hours, Childers said.
There, he said, deputies found the body of a man in the yard with two dogs – a German Shepherd who appeared to be a Mastiff.
The man’s injuries, the sheriff said, were consistent with an animal attack.
“When my deputies arrived at the scene, they entered through a closed door and the two dogs approached them aggressively,” Childers said.
A deputy shot and injured one of the dogs, he said, and both animals ran inside the house.
Childers said when he arrived at the scene, he could hear the dogs inside the house and saw blood on a dog’s door.
The dogs were found inside the home where the sheriff said he shot the two animals.
“Due to the nature of some of the injuries sustained by the driver, we cannot confirm whether the dogs caused the death of the driver, but we wanted to be safe,” Childers said.
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The man’s identity has not been released as his family was still being notified on Tuesday, the sheriff said.
At the time of the attack, Childers said, the owners of the home were out of town.
The dogs were not overlooked, Childers said, but the incident remained under investigation.
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No charges had been filed in the case as of Tuesday.
The medical examiner will determine the man’s cause of death, Childers said.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident (on Monday) involving a member of our Amazon family and will extend our support to the team and the driver’s loved ones,” Lisa Levandowski, spokeswoman for Amazon, told USA TODAY. . “We are assisting law enforcement in their investigation.
According to a report of the United States Postal Service, more than 5,400 postal workers were attacked by dogs in the United States in 2021.
“We ask all customers to act responsibly by taking safety precautions with their dogs during mail delivery,” said Leeann Theriault, employee health and safety awareness manager at the USPS. said in a June press release.
Thériault said when a porter comes into a home, pet owners should keep their dog inside the house and away from the door or behind a fence on a leash to avoid an attack.
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
