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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers shot and killed a dog after they say it attacked four people and aggressively charged at officers.

IMPD responded to the 2200 block of Michigan Street around 5:15 a.m. after a report of a man injured from a dog bite. One man with dog bite injuries was located outside the home.

“The dog bit the man’s bottom lip off,” said a witness to the incident. “He does not have a bottom lip.”

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said the trouble started around 4:30 a.m. She said she heard people fighting in her neighbor’s apartment unit, inside the same house she lives in. At some point, she said her neighbor’s brown pit bull named Carmelo became involved in the disturbance.

“And the dog just freaked out,” she said. “Freaked out, started biting everybody.”

In addition to the injured man found outside, the witness said the dog also attacked two women and a child inside the house.

“It’s like a bloody massacre on the inside of the house,” she said. “There’s skin particles from people laying on the floor in there. It’s very gross in there.”

The woman said the dog’s owner, who had already been bitten by her dog, tried to get the animal outside the house. She had the dog out on the front porch when police arrived.

“The cop was like ‘put the dog inside, put the dog inside,’” she said. “She was like ‘no, put the dog outside, he’s attacking people.’”

IMPD spokesperson Genae Cook said arriving officers encountered the dog outside when they approached the house.

“The dog attempted to attack the officers, at which time the officers discharged their weapons into the dog,” Cook said.

Two officers discharged their firearms and killed the animal, according to IMPD.

“The dog kinda like laid there and I just kinda watched him,” the witness said. “And it was really really sad, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before.”

IMPD officers will often wait for Indianapolis Animal Control officers to arrive to handle an aggressive animal. In this case, Cook said there was immediate urgency for officers to get inside the house to the people calling for help.

“There were people inside this residence needing medical treatment,” Cook said. “And here’s this dog, as soon as the officers pull up, he goes after the officers.”

“An officer has to do what he has to do,” Cook said. “And when he’s being aggressively challenged, that dog could have hurt him just as much as any other person could have hurt him.”

The four people bitten by the dog were taken to hospitals for treatment. Their conditions are not known at this time.

The entire incident remains under investigation and the officers involved will remain on duty while the situation is reviewed.

“Any time an officer discharges his weapon, there’ll be an administrative review of that incident to make sure everything was properly followed,” Cook said.