Eric D. Lawrence

Detroit Free Press

Officers fired several shots at the dogs%2C killing at least one of them%2C police said.

A man lost his hands and feet when he was attacked by a pack of dogs that escaped from a house on Detroit's east side late Thursday, according to Detroit Police.

Three officers responded to the scene at about 10:10 p.m. and fired several shots at the dogs, killing at least one of them, police said.

The officers lured the other dogs inside the home in the 4500 block of Pennsylvania, between East Warren and Mack avenues, and locked them inside.

The owner of the home was not there at the time, but this morning was seen being escorted away by police. Police said there were a total of 12 dogs in the house, including four puppies.

"They were pretty vicious," said Detroit Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody of the dogs involved in the attack, which he said were all pit bulls.

The man was found naked and had damage to both arms below the elbows, Woody said. There were five dogs in all. A necropsy will be performed on the dead dog, he said.

When officers arrived, "the man was kind of pinned down. ... That's why they had to do what they had to do, because his life was in jeopardy," Woody said, noting that "the officers very tactfully tried to draw the dogs away to get to the man and had to shoot one."

The 40- to 50-year-old man, who has not been identified, was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was treated and listed in critical condition, police said.

Woody said the man could just barely speak when police got to him.

It's unclear what led to the attack. The dogs belonged at the home, and Woody noted that police do not know what the man was doing on the property.

"I really don't want to draw any speculation on the dogs, the homeowner or the man in the yard," said Woody, who declined to comment when asked who called to report the attack.

Animal control officers were expected to pick up the live dogs this morning; the carcass was already being held for animal control, Woody said.

The attack comes less than three months after 46-year-old Craig Sytsma of Livonia was fatally attacked by two Cane Corsos while he was jogging in rural Lapeer County. The dogs had bitten people in previous attacks, and the dogs' owners, Sebastiano Quagliata, 45, and his wife, Valbona Lucaj, 44, have been charged with second-degree murder.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com