CEDAR CITY — A bull running loose through Cedar City was shot and killed by police Monday after it got into the business district and knocked over at least two women, sending them to the hospital.

The bull, weighing an estimated 1,000 to 1,300 pounds, came within two blocks of both an elementary school and Southern Utah University. Because of the large number of people walking to class at that hour, and because two pedestrians had already been plowed over by the animal, the decision was made to put the bull down before anyone else was injured, said Cedar City Police Sgt. Jimmy Roden.

The incident began about 7 a.m., when Cedar City police were called on a report of a loose cow in the area of 400 South and 700 West. When they arrived, they determined it was actually a bull on the run.

"Within a few minutes of the officers arriving on scene, the bull began to run down the street. During this time, officers worked to clear pedestrians from the path of the bull," police said in a statement.

An officer used his patrol car to prevent the bull from running down a street toward an elementary school, Roden said. That officer then tried to catch up with the bull to get other pedestrians out of the way. But just as he was stepping out of his car, the animal knocked over Mary Judd, an older woman who couldn't get out of the way in time, he said.

Judd said she was taking her morning walk on the street where she lives when she came upon the officer's car and heard someone shouting about a "big, black bull."

"I looked and that big, black bull was standing right by me, and that's the last I remember," she said. "He must have pushed me over into the cop car."

Judd's daughter took her to the hospital, where doctors told her she has a slight concussion. She had a cut on the back of her head and bruising on her leg and hip. Nurses later informed her the animal had been killed.

"They had never heard of such a thing in town," Judd said.

After toppling Judd, the bull headed "into a business district of town, where officers were able to temporarily contain the bull," police said.

But the bull broke free and ran toward Southern Utah University and South Elementary. At one pont, the animal was within two blocks of SUU.

Officers again were about to contain the bull in a backyard, but the bull "charged at officers and broke through several fences in neighboring yards," according to police.

As the bull continued near the campus of SUU, a second woman was knocked over. The woman was hit while the bull was running full speed, Roden said.

In an attempt to prevent further injuries, an officer used his SUV patrol vehicle to ram the bull, using his front push bumper, Roden said. When that failed to stop the charging animal, officers were forced to fire multiple rounds to put it down, he said.

The entire running of the bull incident through town took about an hour.

Both women who were hit were treated at local hospitals for "bumps and bruises" and were later released, Roden said.

Investigators were trying to determine who owns the bull and how it got loose in the city.

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