Two "aggressive" water buffaloes fatally attacked an Oklahoma man before confronting — and delaying — police and firefighters who responded to care for the victim, authorities said Monday.
Brad McMichael, 45, died on Friday from injuries he sustained from the large animals he had purchased at auction a day prior, his family and police said.
The emergency call for help came at about 8:35 p.m. local time in the small town of Jones, about 20 miles outside of Oklahoma City, Jones Police Chief Bryan Farrington said in a statement.
First responders, however, were "initially unable to reach the victim due to the aggressive behavior of the animals."
"Briefly, maybe 3 (minutes)," Jones Deputy Police Chief Sony Nohmer told NBC News when describing the delay in care.
First responders killed one water buffalo, allowing them to get to McMichael, who “had sustained multiple deep lacerations that proved to be fatal,” Farrington said.
McMichael’s fiancée, Jennifer Green, said that the delay was inconsequential. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"I was there," Green said.
As first responders continued their work, a second water buffalo "became increasingly agitated and posed a threat to emergency personnel" and those on site that were also dispatched, according to the police statement.
Green said that she believes McMichael was preparing water for the animals when they attacked, and he would have never carelessly put himself in a dangerous position.
"He wouldn't have been casual and, like I said, he was very experienced," Green said. "So we don't know how he got in that situation. But the stock tanks were not full of water yet. So we're not sure if he was dumping them out to fill them with fresh water before he left. But that's when it happened."
Running the farm had been a "dream" come true for McMichael.
"Most are aware by now we lost Bradley on Friday in a tragic accident," Green said in a statement she posted on the McMichael Farms Facebook page. "His farm was his dream, and I had the privilege of helping him with it for a little while."
McMichael was survived by his 21-year-old son Rylan, his ex-wife Amy Smith, a sister, a mother, and a grandmother.
The land where McMichael was raising cattle, lamb, and goats has been in the family for at least three generations, Smith and Green said. Smith explained that the farm "was everything to him, it's what he lived for."
"Farming, our son and the community of Jones meant everything to him," she added. "He was a man that was brought up in that town and was never ever going to leave."
Green said she's been overwhelmed by the well wishes coming from Jones residents.
"I don't know if [McMichael] knew that people loved him as much as they do," she said.
