A woman is heartbroken after a large dog escaped from a play area at Miami-Dade Animal Services and attacked and killed her smaller pet, right outside the shelter.

Six-year-old Toby, Emily Mirabal’s 10-pound dog, tragically died this past weekend. Mirabal was leaving Miami-Dade Animal Services on Saturday after bringing her two dogs in for vaccines and tags.

“On my way back to my car, one of the dogs from their facility came loose and came right at me,” she said.

She said a roughly 70-pound dog escaped from a nearby play yard where volunteers were working with him. Miami-Dade Animal Services later identified the dog as a 3-year-old American bulldog.

“I reached down to grab my dog. I was able to grab my Jack Russell, and when I bent down to get my other dog, I turned around, and the dog that came loose already had him in his mouth,” Mirabal said.

In a statement, Miami-Dade Animal Services said two trained volunteers were inside the play yard. As one volunteer attempted to exit, the dog managed to escape.

The department said volunteers immediately tried to contain the dog, and shelter staff quickly assisted.

Mirabal said that’s not how it felt in the moment.

“It was shocking. I didn’t have words. I just shut down,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. No one knew what to do. There was no protocol for what happened. No urgency”

Animal Services said Toby’s injuries were so severe that they were beyond what the facility could treat on site. Mirabal was referred to a nearby emergency veterinary hospital.

“It was horrible. My dog never stood a chance,” she said. “My son came and took Toby to the emergency vet nearby. They tried to resuscitate him, but unfortunately, he was already gone.”

Toby later died at the emergency hospital.

Miami-Dade Animal Services said the volunteers involved have since been suspended, and the dog that escaped was deemed a risk to public safety and was humanely euthanized. The department said incidents like this are rare, but they are reviewing their procedures and strengthening safety measures moving forward.

For Mirabal, she hopes her loss leads to real change.

“There should definitely be better measures in place,” she said. “This could have been a kid. It could have been a person. It could have been me. It’s not the animal — it was the people responsible for the animal.”

Miami-Dade Animal Services told NBC6 they are continuing to review what happened and are working to strengthen safety measures to prevent something like this from happening again.