A family has been left heartbroken after a 12-year-old boy in California drowned in a lake during a desperate attempt to flee from a pack of vicious dogs.
Fernando Torres Moreno was spending the day at the park with his friends on June 11. But the wholesome day quickly turned tragic when a group of dogs attacked.
'He had the biggest smile,' Sunshine Diaz, a local bus driver who remembers Fernando and his siblings from throughout her career, recalled to the Daily Mail.
'Fernando's smile, just his laugh, the way he would be, it just lit up the whole bus. Fernando would start [laughing] and everyone was having a good time... It was almost like family. We were a big family.'
Diaz said Fernando's mother has been 'devastated.'
Fernando had gone to the park to spend time with friends before 'tragedy took him from us too soon,' according to a GoFundMe created for the boy's family by Diaz.
Just after 6pm on the fateful day, California City police responded to reports of a motionless person in Central Park's pond, KGET reported.
In the waters, Fernando was found to have drowned after fleeing dogs that had been brought to the park by a local resident.
Fernando Torres Moreno was spending the day at the park with his friends on June 11, but the wholesome day quickly turned to tragedy after a group of vicious dogs attacked
In the Central Park lake, Fernando was found to have drowned after fleeing dogs that had been brought to the park by a local resident
The owner was revealed as Kenneth Dobbins, 68, who since fled from the area as police call on the public to help find him
Another little girl, who wasn't able to run free in time, was found nearby, mauled and suffering horrific injuries from the animals, according to the outlet.
After attempting CPR at the scene, the boy was rushed to Adventist Health Hospital in Tehachapi before being taken to Children's Hospital.
Doctors attempted to resuscitate him until around 3am. But he tragically succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of June 19, Cal City Mayor Marquette Hawkins said.
Fernando and the other victim were two of four total children attacked by the dogs.
The girl was also transported to hospital with 'significant' but non life-threatening dog bites, Hawkins said.
A vigil for Fernando, organized by Diaz and her daughter, was described a scene of quiet sadness and a community rallying to support a heartbroken family.
'It was very heartwarming,' she said tearfully of the vigil that drew around 150 community members.
'Everyone just showed up. Even the mayor. It was really, really amazing.... so many tears.'
Diaz said Fernando's mother and father also attended, but his mom 'really did stare off a lot into the water.'
At a candlelight vigil for Fernando organized by Sunshine Diaz and her daughter, a close friend of the boy, Diaz recalled that Fernando's mother 'really did stare off a lot into the water'
Fernando is the second youngest in his family of two brothers and two sisters. He was known at school as the 'happy kid' who loved to spend his time outside at 'every chance he got,' according to Diaz
'She seemed obviously devastated, but she looked like she's trying... to see her standing there, it was surreal. It almost felt like [she was in a] sort of daze.'
According to the longtime bus driver, Fernando's mother requested to move the vigil onto the waters edge.
'We did a balloon release. We did the candle lighting. There were a lot of flowers. It was very quiet... It was almost like everybody was so in shock.'
Diaz said the family of the little girl who was mauled by the vicious dogs also showed up and spoke to Fernando's mother.
'It was a lot,' she recalled.
Fernando is the second youngest in his family of two brothers and two sisters. According to Diaz, he was known at school as the 'happy kid' who loved to spend his time outside at 'every chance he got.'
'He would go for walks. He was at the park. Just being 12, you know, just being happy. And his sense of humor was amazing,' she said.
Diaz said Fernando made strong, close friendships and was quick to stand up for his sister and brother as well as himself.
Diaz, a local bus driver seen above who drove Fernando and his siblings, said the community was 'devastated' by the the boy's death and described him as 'just the coolest kid'
'He was strong,' she said. 'He was just the coolest kid.'
His friends have been left devastated, including her own daughter, she said.
'I know one of his very good friends... she won't talk. She's not talking to anyone. When someone is such a good person, you make friends for life... he would have had friends that were everlasting for life.'
According to Diaz, the owner of the dogs had never seemingly integrated into the community.
Police worked to identify the dogs owner, leading them to 68-year-old Kenneth Dobbins, who told police he had been in the park with his three dogs.
Dobbins claimed the animals were with him the whole time, and the owner was not taken into custody.
According to Hawkins, the dogs were mixed breed and had been off the leash, but with their owner.
Police later discovered that Dobbins's dogs were in fact involved in the attack, but, after getting a warrant, Dobbins and the dogs had vanished, the outlet reported.
Dobbins has yet to be found by law enforcement. He was described as a 'transient and a previously convicted felon with loose ties to California City as well as Palmdale'
'The thing that's mind boggling to so much of our community; on the other side of the park in Cal City, there's where the kids play and they hang out... on the other side is a huge dog park,' Diaz said.
'Why was he on the other side where the kids were? Was it on purpose? Why were [the dogs] on a leash and then he took them off the leash?
'One of our other school bus drivers happened to be there that day and she had to pick up her kids. And she was trying to get them in the car quick because she was scared. She was so afraid. What was he actually doing over there? What was his intentions? Because the other side of the park is literally a huge, massive dog park.'
Diaz said, in her time as a bus driver, she had 'never seen this guy.'
Dobbins has yet to be found by law enforcement. He was described as a 'transient and a previously convicted felon with loose ties to California City as well as Palmdale,' police said, noting he is 6'6" tall and approximately 250 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes.
According to the New York Post, one of the animals was later seized in Los Angeles county.
Valerie Batres, the parent of one of Moreno's friends, said that her heart 'is absolutely shattered.'
'This tragedy hits especially close to home because Fernando was one of my son Javelle's friends from middle school here in California City,' she wrote on Facebook.
At a vigil for Fernando, spearheaded by Diaz whose daughter was a close friend to Fernando, she described a scene of quiet sadness stood by the lake waters and a community rallying to support a heartbroken family
'No parent should ever have to bury their child. No sibling should have to endure such a terrifying experience. My prayers are with Fernando's family, his little sibling, his friends, classmates, teachers, and everyone whose lives have been forever changed by this heartbreaking loss.
'As a mother, I can't even begin to imagine the pain they are carrying right now.'
Diaz said that Fernando's mother and father are the most caring parents who 'love their kids' so much.
'It showed through Fernando,' she said, reminiscing on his caring and kind nature toward others.
'It has been very eye-opening for our community, for our kids in our community. This has been very, very devastating.'
The Daily Mail reached out to the Cal City Police Department for comment.
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