By Rob Fox
A pit bull and a bullmastiff, each about a hundred pounds in weight, were shot by police as they mauled a random 57-year-old man they had attacked on the streets of Philadelphia at 4:40 a.m. Monday morning. The bullmastiff was killed at the scene but the pit bull, which was also shot, escaped and has yet to be found.
The dog attack victim’s injuries were so severe that officers reported they could see bone through his multiple bite wounds. Responding police applied tourniquets to the man before he was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
BREAKING, DOG ATTACK: A 50 YO man was attacked by 2 dogs, a pit bull & a bullmastiff. Several phone calls of a man screaming. Officers arrive to shoot the bullmastiff dead. The man had been bit down to his bone on his arms & legs. He’s in critical condition. pic.twitter.com/7xPkDKzwSh
— Lauren Dawn Johnson (@LaurenDawnFox29) August 26, 2019
At one point another person tried to help the man being attacked by beating the dogs with a cane, but one of the dogs chased him off. In the video the victim can be seen being dragged and tossed around by the dogs.
When police finally arrived they attempted to scare the dogs off before finally realizing that they were going to have to take more drastic measures.
The gunfire scared the pit bull off, but the bullmastiff was so focused on attacking the man that the initial shots didn’t stop it. The officers kept firing until the big dog finally went down.
This latest attack comes just a few days after a 9-year-old girl was killed by three pit bulls that escaped from her neighbor’s yard in Detroit.