CRESTWOOD, IL -- Crestwood police spent Tuesday chasing three pit bulls that were running loose through the neighborhood. An officer was forced to fire at one of the dogs when it came charging toward him, police said.

Around 10:35 a.m. Oct. 23, the Crestwood Police Department fielded numerous 911 calls in reference to three unattended pit bulls running around the neighborhood. An officer went to the area of 137th Street and Sandra Lane and met with the owner of the dogs. The officer took the woman's contact information and broadcasted a description of the missing dogs. Officers heard a radio dispatch that Midlothian police had found the dogs and were able to block traffic on the Midlothian Turnpike as the dogs ran back into Crestwood. The dogs were spotted by another officer on Linder Lane near a horse farm. Officers called the dogs' owner, who said she would send her boyfriend to pick up the dogs.

When the woman's boyfriend arrived he went into a wooded area to find the dogs. Crestwood officers went back to 137th Street and Sandra Lane, after hearing a call that dogs had returned. Neighbors and a mail carrier directed the officer to a residence, where a blue nosed pit bull was standing in the front yard. The dog kept barking at the cop, while the officer could hear another commotion in the side yard. As the officer walked toward the side the house, two more blue nose pit bulls were barking and growling and aggressively scratching on a sliding glass door. The officer said the dogs were trying to force their noses between the door and door frame, trying to force open the door. Someone was yelling inside the home.

Police said one of the dogs turned toward the officer, continuing to bark and growl. The officer drew his weapon and began walking backwards toward the patrol car. The dog reportedly charged the officer. The dog was approximately three to four feet away from the officer "with its mouth open" when the officer fired twice striking the dog. The injured dog and the two other dogs ran back to their home on Sandra Lawn. The dog owner's boyfriend ran up on foot and was given a ride back to his vehicle so he could take the injured dog to the vet. Officers interviewed two separate homeowners. The first homeowner told police he was trying to stop the dogs from getting into his house. The homeowner believed the pit bulls were trying to get at his own two dogs because their beds are next to the sliding glass door where the dogs were allegedly snarling and scratching.

A second neighbor told police that the door to her house was open and the dogs were trying to get through the glass storm door. She ended up closing the main door to keep the dogs from getting inside.

The injured dog suffered a graze wound to the chest. The other bullet was lodged in the dog's jaw. The dogs' owner told police that the pet was going to be okay.

Crestwood police said they had been at the house on several other occasions involving the dogs running loose and unattended. The owners were cited with local ordinance violations, including no dog license and dogs without a leash. Police received eight 911 calls placed by residents about the dogs. In one, the caller said that he was approached by the dog's owner, who allegedly described the dogs as "vicious pit bulls." Another caller reported that one of the pit bulls attacked his dog.