A Texas man is facing multiple felony charges after his three pit bulls fatally mauled a neighbor — while also staring down murder charges in a separate case.
Marshall Garrett, 38, is accused of failing to properly fence in his dogs on March 23 according to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
That evening, the three dogs got into the yard of his 65-year-old neighbor Harriette Phillips and fatally mauled the woman as she tried to fend them off with a hammer, according to the complaint.
Investigators noted in the complaint that the woman’s hair and pieces of her clothing were found in the bellies of the pit bulls.
Neighbors spoke with members of the Houston Police Department in the wake of the incident, and said that Garrett’s dogs often escaped from their enclosure and were often aggressive, according to the complaint. One neighbor allegedly said that she had been bitten by one recently.
Det. Ramon Garcia, the affiant in the complaint, said that Phillips appeared to be scanning her backyard for something when the three dogs came through the fence.
She allegedly screamed for help while moving to her back door and swinging the hammer, Garcia wrote. Once she fell to the ground, the dogs allegedly began mauling her until she couldn’t move or scream any longer, he wrote.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced on April 9 that Garrett would be charged with three felony counts of attack by dog resulting in death.
The three pit bulls were euthanized under a Texas law that allows for any animal that bites or kills another person or animal to be put to death.
The charges came just one day after the DA charged Garrett with murder over a separate incident that occurred last year.
Garrett was called to help a female friend alleging a man had stolen money from her on Oct. 29, according to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
Video footage allegedly shows Garrett walking behind the man and then dealing a blow to the back of his head, according to the complaint.
The complaint says that the footage also shows people yelling that the man “gave it back,” prior to Garrett hitting the man.
Marshall got in his car and left the scene after that according to the complaint, while the 69-year-old man fell to the ground and was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The autopsy later determined the manner of death to be homicide and listed the cause as blunt force trauma, per the complaint.
Both Marshall and the female involved in the incident are charged with murder, and a spokesperson for the HPD tells PEOPLE that Garrett is now in custody but the woman remains at large.
Garrett has yet to enter a plea in either case or make a court appearance, and does not have a lawyer at this time.
He has previously been convicted of offenses including burglary, criminal trespass, evading arrest, possession of marijuana and unlawful use of a criminal instrument.