Child airlifted for surgery after reported pit bull attack in Liberal, Missouri; owner charged months later
Police allegations reported by KZRG say a child suffered serious bite injuries in an April Liberal attack and was flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital for surgery; criminal charges filed months later remain allegations.
Incident summary
Newstalk KZRG reported September 27 that a Liberal, Missouri, man had been charged after police said his pit bull, Lokey, attacked one of his children in April. KZRG said the child suffered lacerations, puncture wounds and abrasions across the arms, legs, torso and back, was treated in Lamar, and was then flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for surgery. The outlet also reported that the man’s elderly and disabled mother intervened. A probable-cause statement publicly reproduced with discussion of the charging report gives the incident date as April 21, 2026, at about 7 p.m.; BiteDB treats that exact date/time as source-attributed rather than independently verified from a court-file download. KZRG further reported police allegations that Lokey had seriously injured another person in June 2025. The criminal charges and prior-attack statements remain allegations and are not treated as adjudicated facts.
KZRG reported that 38-year-old Jacob Alan Judd was charged with offenses including keeping a dangerous dog, child endangerment, child abuse or neglect, and abuse of an elderly, disabled or vulnerable person. The report also relayed police allegations about a prior June 2025 attack by the same dog. BiteDB records those statements as charging-stage allegations only; it does not treat them as convictions, final dangerous-dog adjudications, or proof of criminal or civil responsibility.
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Primary record used by BiteDB
KZRG reported that police say an unvaccinated pit bull named Lokey attacked the accused owner’s son in Liberal in April, causing lacerations, puncture wounds and abrasions to the arms, legs, torso and back. The child was treated in Lamar and flown to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for surgery. The outlet reported that the owner was facing multiple felony charges and that investigators alleged the same dog had seriously injured another person in June 2025.
Open original source ↗Additional sources
No additional independent source was located for this incident at publication time; the attribution and uncertainty are preserved above.
What BiteDB does not infer
Breed is recorded only at the provenance level shown above: sheriff-attributed for the main attacking dog, with the other two dogs left unknown. Family-described circumstances are kept separate from sheriff-attributed facts. The sheriff’s office later confirmed two owners and a pending petition seeking a vicious-dog designation; BiteDB does not treat that petition as a final adjudication, criminal charge or completed animal disposition.