51�Թ�

Owner Sharon Foy fondly recalled his visits to pick up a fish supper.

Ms Foy, who has run the shop for 35 years, described his death as "upsetting".

“It attacked a small child, and we were concerned if we didn’t remove the animal, it may attack and possibly kill another child,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Patrick Foy said shortly after the incident.

“It attacked a small child, and we were concerned if we didn’t remove the animal it may attack and possibly kill another child,” said Patrick Foy, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Foy pointed to a deadly attack in 2004 when a mountain lion killed a mountain biker in Orange County, then attacked and nearly killed a woman hours later.