Maryland

Dogs Maul Elderly Man, Drag Him Down Street Before Attacking 2nd Man in Prince George's County

Police shot and killed one dog and say the second dog strangled itself while it was restrained

Two dogs are dead after viciously attacking two men in District Heights, Maryland, police say.

The dogs were running loose in the 6600 block of Hil-Mar Drive about 11 a.m. Saturday when they started attacking a 72-year-old man who was standing at a bus stop, said Jennifer Donelan, spokesperson for the Prince George's County Police Department.

"They just started attacking him and dragging him down the street," one witness told News4.

Witnesses said the man tried to climb a fence to escape the dogs, but the animals pulled him down from the fence and continued to attack.

Bystanders did their best to jump into action to help the man, but they say the dogs wouldn't quit.

"I was scared, I ain't gonna lie, but I ain't just gonna let this old man die like that so we tried to help him. We tried to throw trash cans, sticks and bricks at the dogs, but it wasn't too much we could do," Thomas Veasley said.

Donelan said the victim suffered serious injuries to his face and hands.

Jessica Phillips and her brother Jeremy Phillips also tried to help the man during the attack.

"I could just hear the pain in the way he was moaning and, like, trembling," Jessica Phillips said.

She used one of the victims socks to make a tourniquet for his hand.

"I've never seen dogs act like that before," Jeremy Phillips said.

Jeremy had picked up a stick to try to beat the animals away.

"It was like they were possessed," Jessica Phillips said.

As medics were treating the elderly man, officers arrived at the scene and saw the dogs attacking another man who had been walking down the street.

Donelan said the 52-year-old man tried to get on top of a car to escape the dogs, but they kept ripping at him and dragged him off of the car and down onto the street.

Officers managed to get one of the dogs off him with a loop stick. Donelan said the dog was acting so aggressively it strangled itself on the dog pole and died at the scene.

Meanwhile, officers shot and killed the other dog when it tried to attack them, according to Donelan.

A third dog was also loose, but wasn't involved in either of the attacks, Donelan said. Animal control officers captured the canine.

Both men were taken to local hospitals. Police do not know their exact conditions at this time.

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