Officer Greg Baron with the Beeville Police Department said he has seen combat injuries that weren't as bad. There was blood everywhere, and the tissue damage was incredible.
"The female, extensive injury to her arms. She did require surgery. She had puncture wounds to the back of her neck, on both sides of her spine," Baron said. "The male subject suffered a partial amputation of one of his fingers, as well as extensive injury to both legs and both arms, as well as his chest."
The attack happened around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday inside a home on the 1200 block of South Tyler.
The owner told police that a four-year old pit bull was going to make a mess on the couch, so the owner popped the dog on the hind to distract it. The dog then started attacking the woman's legs.
A young man who was in the home then went after the pit bull, at which point the pit bull focused his attack on the man. The man then grabbed a steak knife and began to stab the pit bull between five to seven times.
"He was all beaten up, all over his body. Like bad. His finger was hanging off. He had got bit on his mouth," said Dora Barrera, the next door neighbor. "She had a deep laceration. You could see her meat, on her left arm. It was bad. She was about to pass out."
"Mr. Malcolm showed some very heroic style," Baron said. "I don't know that I, myself, would be willing to get in between an attacking pit bull, rather than step back and use some object, but Mr. Malcolm, without thinking of himself at all, simply just waded in, took physical control of the dog and suffered pretty extensive injury because of it."
The next door neighbors, Dora and Priscilla Barrera, said they heard the commotion and called 911. They then brought towels to the victims to help try and stop the bleeding.
Police arrived to a chaotic scene, and went into the home to shoot the pit bull with a tranquilizer gun. The pit bull was later taken to the vet and euthanized at the request of the owner.
Police identified the female as Linda Engstrom, believed to be in her late 50s, and the male victim as Derek Malcom, believed to be in his early 20s. Malcolm was a family friend who has recently been staying at the house.
Apparently, the pit bull had been very docile and loving for the entire time the owner had him.
(KIII TV3 - May 9, 2013)
