Anchorage Daily News

A pit bull that severely mauled a young girl inside her East Anchorage home Tuesday afternoon was shot by a neighbor who followed screams to the scene to find the girl's baby sitter fighting the dog in the front yard.

The girl's injuries were so severe that witnesses at first told police the 6-year-old was dead, killed in the attack by one of her family's pets.

The girl, however, was still alive and was rushed to Alaska Native Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Tuesday afternoon for what police called life-threatening injuries to her neck and head. Her mother was at the hospital.

"The girl has been transported in critical condition to the hospital," police Lt. Paul Honeman said. "It took a long time to get that girl stabilized."

Anchorage police got the call at about 2:25 p.m., and police arriving at Riviera Terrace Mobile Home park off Boniface Parkway at 33rd Avenue found the girl, who was not named Tuesday, severely injured and the wounded dog cowering under a snowmachine trailer, Honeman said.

Another young girl in the home was not injured. The baby sitter was bitten on her arm and leg, he said. She was in tears as she walked herself into an ambulance on the scene. Her screams were what had summoned next-door neighbor Troy Danforth to the scene.

"She come yelling over my place, 'Grab your gun. Help! Help! Help!' " Danforth said. "So I put my shoes on, grabbed my gun and as soon as I walked around the corner, the dog was attacking her right outside the front yard."

He pulled the gun on the dog but hesitated, afraid of hitting the woman as she and the dog flailed around. He began kicking and yelling at the raging dog, named Dozer.

From down the street, another neighbor, John Kersbergen, heard the struggle and screams.

"I was running toward the house to help him ... and I told him, 'Just shoot it. Shoot that son of a bitch,' " Kersbergen said.

The dog let go of the baby sitter and turned on Danforth. He shot at it once and missed, although the gunfire drove it back. But not for long. The dog turned and came back for a couple more lunges at Danforth, who each time popped off another round from his snub-nosed .38-caliber handgun. A final shot appeared to hit Dozer's front right leg and drove the dog away for good.

The girl, meanwhile, was bleeding from her neck in the mobile home, and neighbor Kyle Mayeaux, a soldier at Fort Richardson, rushed into the apartment after hearing the shots.

"To be honest with you, I was afraid to go in the door," Kersbergen said. "He's the hero. He knew what right to do."

Inside, Mayeaux found the girl appearing lifeless and bleeding from what seemed like a major neck artery. He felt a faint pulse.

"The little girl was laying on the floor in the trailer there and nobody was doing anything. I went and put pressure on her neck where the dog bit her," Mayeaux said. "I just did what I could and the paramedics came and took over."

The reason for the attack was unclear. Danforth said the baby sitter told him she and the children were playing inside the mobile home with Dozer and two other dogs when Dozer just snapped.

Police collected two guns from witnesses: Danforth's and a gun belonging to Mayeaux. The soldier's weapon was immediately returned because it had not been fired, and Danforth's was being held during the investigation, Honeman said.

After the girl and baby sitter were transported in ambulances, two Anchorage Animal Care and Control personnel appeared on the scene to try to catch Dozer, who was under the trailer.

The muscular, golden-hued pit bull would not come out, and police wielding shotguns stood by as the men wrangled the dog out with catch poles and loaded it into a cage on the back of their truck. The animal had blood dripping down both its front legs and the fur around its mouth was stained red.

Animal control spokesman Scott Gower said officers returned to the scene to evaluate the other dogs that lived in the trailer with the girl but had no immediate plans to capture them.

Officials were still working to determine what will happen to Dozer, who neighbors said has caused problems in the past.

"That one's been aggressive the last few days," said Shawnee Hart, who lives nearby. "We're trying to tell (the owner) the dog's aggressive."

But, Hart said, the owner told her, " 'No, no, no, they're friendly dogs. They're just security dogs.' Well, you know, your security dog just tore up your child."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

ADVERTISEMENT