ILLINOIS -- Evanston Police came to the aid of an elderly woman in her 70s and her dog while they were being attacked by a pit bull.
An officer was forced to kill the animal that escaped from his owner's property.
The shooting happened in the gangway an apartment building in the 1100 block of Oak Ave. in Evanston. Police say the victim was getting ready to walk her Labrador mix when she and the dog were attacked by a stray pit bull.
"I heard screaming sounds and I ran down and saw this other dog locked on Carol's dog," said neighbor Ira Kanter. "I took a pave rock and threw it at the dog, It did not even faze it. Finally, the police came and had to shoot it."
"Officers reported that the dog that was bit was heavily bleeding and the other dog was still attacking it and it had also attacked the dog's owner," said Evanston Police Commander Jay Parrott. "Officers on the scene had to shoot the dog from further attacks."
Commander Parrott says the pit bull apparently got out of its residence and the owner of the dog would be cited Thursday.
He said the victim was bitten several times in the leg and sought medical treatment and her lab mix was taken to a vet where it stayed overnight.
The victim called her neighbor Jamie McKinley to tell him what had happened to her.
"From what she told me, he made it through the night and she hopes he has a speedy recovery," McKinley said. "She is broken up from the tragedy her dog was attacked and she watched it.
The neighbor said the victim lives in an apartment building with her dog and that directly across from her in the same apartment residents say all the dogs know each other and that it is unfortunate that this has happened.
"As I was talking to her she said it was like a horror film happening in front of her," McKinley said.
(WLS - Oct 19, 2012)