Dec 26, 2007 7:49 pm US/Pacific
Parents Of SJ Teen Killed By Tiger Want Answers
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
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The deceased visitor was identified as 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose (left).
CBS 5
Marilza Sousa had Christmas dinner waiting on the table, but her 17-year-old son never showed up.
She began worrying when he didn't return home that night, and didn't hear the devastating news until Wednesday morning: Carlos Sousa Jr. was killed when a tiger escaped from its enclosure at San Francisco Zoo and mauled him.
Choking back tears, Marilza Sousa said she and her husband, Carlos, were still in shock that their boy was dead from the brutal -- and bizarre-attack.
"I wish I was sleeping and this was just a bad dream, but it's not," she told The Associated Press at her San Jose apartment Wednesday evening.
Carlos Sousa said he received a phone call around 9 a.m. from the coroner's office, asking him to come identify the body. His son appeared to have suffered severe trauma to his neck, he said, although officials have not released the cause of death.
"The tiger must have got him in the neck right away," said the elder Sousa, 37, who works as a drywall supervisor.
The couple, who are legally separated, said they still have few details about the incident and were frustrated by the lack of information. They said neither police nor zoo officials had spoken to them.
"They didn't call, like we lost a dog or a cat. But we do have questions. How did this happen? This isn't the first time either," said Marilza Sousa, 46, an electronics plant inspector. She was referring to a previous incident in which the tiger had mauled a zookeeper.
A year before killing the teenager and severely injuring two other men Tuesday, the 4-year-old Siberian tiger named Tatiana had ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm while the woman was feeding the animal through the bars.
Following that 2006 attack, zoo officials fortified the big cat enclosure.
Officials said they do not know how Tatiana escaped Tuesday but that the animal did not exit through an open door.
Carlos Sousa Jr., the youngest of three children, was described as a happy boy who was active on the football and basketball teams at Independence High School. His parents said he loved rap music and aspired to write and record music one day.
The couple said they believed the other two attack victims, a 19- and 23-year-old, were friends of Carlos, although they did not know the men, who were listed in stable condition following surgery Wednesday afternoon. They have not been publicly identified.
Carlos' parents also said they didn't know why their son decided to go to the zoo that day, but said it should have been a fun Christmas Day activity.
"It's not a safe place for kids," Marilza Sousa said. "People go there to have a good time, not to get killed."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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