A 6-year-old boy in South Carolina was mauled to death by a pit bull, which was taken in as a stray by the child's mother.

On Jan. 15, the mother -- identified as Victoria LaBar -- mentioned on Facebook she found the dog on her property. She wrote she suspected the canine was dumped by hunters in the area, and described the dog as a "sweet boy." According to the post, LaBar was looking for someone who would adopt the pit bull.

However, the woman later went live on Facebook on Jan. 20 to talk about the attack on her son. In a 90-second clip, LaBar sobbed, saying the "unexpected" happened when she and her family were taking care of the dog and trying to find it a new home for him.

“My six-year old little boy was attacked early this afternoon by the pit bull that I had been trying to find a home for," she said. "It had been abandoned on our property... I was an advocate for pit bulls and what happened today happened so fast that there was nothing that anyone could do."

The woman said the dog had been behaving well with the family and the other small animals in the home until the attack, which got over within "a second."

"It took was a second and he ended my boy's life. My other dog and husband even tried to get the dog off my boy. Whoever you are the you [sic] dropped your trained to kill hunting dog off and thought nothing of the consequences of your action."

"It doesn't feel real that we will wake up tomorrow and our son won't be here," she added.

The police were called to the scene on the day of the incident, and they found the boy dead. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are investigating the boy's death, People Magazine reported. The dog responsible for the attack was euthanized.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the funeral cost of the victim, who was identified as Jayce Hatfield.

pit bull
Representational image of a pit bull dog. pixabay