A suburban neighborhood is on edge after a resident’s pit bull escaped from its yard and mauled a corgi to death earlier this week.

Alice Sylvester says she was walking her 2-year-old corgi named YoYo on Monday afternoon near Walnut Avenue in suburban Arlington Heights when a neighbor’s pit bull escaped from its yard and ran after them.

“It just immediately started biting,” she said.

The pit bull’s owner ran over and retrieved the dog, but as Sylvester carried her corgi away, the pit bull escaped again, and this time there was nothing Sylvester could do to save her pet.

“The owner was screaming ‘the dog got free!”, and I turn around and see this pit bull going 90 miles an hour at us,” she said. “The dog jumped up and is pulling at YoYo and biting and chewing and mauling her in my arms. Down the entire block I’m pulling the dog away and screaming “make this stop!”, and at some point I lost the dog off the leash and I knew it was over. I knew I couldn’t protect her anymore.”

Her corgi died on the sidewalk, just steps away from her home.

Now area residents say they are afraid for their children and for their pets.

“We’re always scared of the coyotes coming after our kids, and now I’m petrified that this dog, who I can see its house from my backyard, is going to jump the fence and come after one of my children,” neighbor Robin Hawkins said.

“The dog’s got to go,” neighbor Peg Georgalas said. “Nobody wants to walk their dog, nobody wants to come this way.”

Because the pit bull didn’t attack a human, it was not removed from its owner. Residents say that a court hearing will be held Feb. 28 to determine the dog’s fate, and until then, they say they’ll remain on edge.

“We’re scared. This is a violent dog that needs to be out of our neighborhood,” Georgalas said.