Deputy Kills Pit Bull After Attack At South Sacramento Home

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a pit bull Saturday morning in south Sacramento after the dog badly injured a young boy before a neighbor stepped in and saved the boy.

Deputies responded to the 7000 block of Third Parkway at about 10:10 a.m. and discovered the two victims, a grandmother and her 9-year-old grandson. The woman was in stable condition, but the boy had sustained an injury to his head and severe injury to one of his arms, according to sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

The neighbor, Pat Nunes heard the commotion and came over to help. Nunes had to pry the pit bull's jaws off the boy's arm but not before it was badly injured.

"It was basically a tug-of-war between the grandmother and the dog," he told CBS13's Derek Shore. "I did what I had to do. It's a little rough to talk about because it was horrible. It was probably one of the worst things I've ever seen."

The large dog had his jaws firmly gripped on the boy's arm when Nunes arrived.

"I actually struck it a few times and ended up sticking the stick in its mouth or the broom handle in its mouth and it let go and it came back at grandma's foot."

The dog then went after the woman and bit her on the toe.

Paramedics treated the boy at the scene and then transported him to a local hospital.

The dog was contained in the backyard of the residence when deputies arrived. While waiting for Sacramento County Animal Control officers to arrive, deputies observed the dog aggressively trying to jump over the fence from the backyard, Ramos said. Fearing imminent danger to themselves or citizens if the dog escaped, one of the deputies shot and killed the dog, he said.

The boy reportedly had accessed the backyard from inside the residence, at which time the dog attacked him.

Animal Control officers later arrived at the residence and took custody of the deceased dog, as well as an additional dog that had been inside the home. The family was house-sitting and didn't own the dogs, Ramos said.

There were no criminal charges pending against anyone from the incident, Ramos said.