Crowd-funding account set up for mauled girl's family

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A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family of the Baldwin child who died on Sunday as a result of injuries sustained when a dog attacked her.

Nine-year-old Amiyah Dunston will be waked from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at Zion Cathedral Church of God in Christ, 312 Grand Ave., in Freeport, said Bishop Frank A. White. The Rev. William Watson of Free Will Church in Freeport and St. John Baptist Church in Westbury will officiate, White said.

The GoFundMe page is headlined "For our Princess Amiyah". More than $27,000 had been raised as of late Thursday.

"She was a beautiful, smart and loving girl who touched the lives of all who knew her," said a note on the page. "We are raising money for her funeral arrangements, and potential grief counseling for the family."

One commenter on the page said, "My sympathy to this family. It is truly heart breaking. Rip little angel."

On Monday, Nassau County police identified Amiyah after her death on Sunday. Baldwin schools Superintendent Shari Camhi said she was a fourth-grader at Plaza Elementary School.

According to police, a pit bull attacked Amiyah in the rear yard of a home on Holland Avenue in Elmont. When they arrived at the house at around 10:30 a.m., two 5th Precinct officers entered the rear yard and a third officer walked through the house and opened the back door, at which point the dog let go of the girl and charged the officer. The officer fired several rounds, killing the dog, police said.

Amiyah, who was visiting the Holland Avenue home at the time of the incident, was taken to Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, where she died at 1:42 p.m

Police said there was no apparent criminality, although the investigation was continuing. But the owner of the dog, Carlyle Arnold, 29, of Elmont, was arrested on an unrelated charge of violating an order of protection.

In Baldwin, the school district called on a crisis intervention team to work with students and faculty. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new TV studio at Baldwin High School, planned for Monday, was canceled.

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