Death of Lowell boy killed by pit bulls ruled an accident, officials say

Flowers and candles marked the scene on Oct. 23 where a 7-year-old boy was mauled to death by two pit bull dogs two days earlier.Jim Davis/Globe Staff

The state medical examiner’s office has ruled that the death of a 7-year-old Lowell boy who killed in a vicious pit bull attack last month was an accident, according to the Middlesex district attorney’s office.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” Meghan Kelly, the spokeswoman, said in a phone interview Wednesday night.

Lowell police told The Sun newspaper Wednesday that no charges have been filed and it was unlikely that any will be filed, the Associated Press reported.

The child, Javien Candelario, was mauled to death after he entered a fenced area on Clare Street where the dogs were kept next to a home, officials said.

One of the pit bulls escaped the fenced area after the Oct. 21 attack but was later captured and euthanized.

The other dog, which was placed into the custody of the city’s animal control office, was euthanized Wednesday, said Capt. Jonathan Webb, a spokesman for Lowell police.

Attempts to reach the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner were unsuccessful Wednesday night.

A private funeral for Candelario, who was a student in the Lowell public schools, was held Saturday at St. Michael Church in Lowell.

The city council voted unanimously last week to have the city manager investigate “the viability of measures” that can be taken “against certain breeds of dogs,” according to the motion passed at the meeting.

The city passed an ordinance in 2011 requiring pit bulls to be spayed or neutered, as well as muzzled and leashed when off their owners’ property. But the ordinance was overturned a year later after the state passed a law preventing local communities from banning specific breeds of dogs.

“I think we clearly have to revisit the issue,” said Rodney Elliott, a city councilor who supported the ordinance, in a phone interview Wednesday night. The law had been an effective solution, he said.

“I think cities and towns, those that want to be able to adopt stricter laws related to pit bulls, should have that authority,” he said.