Just days after a pit bull killed a baby girl in a neighborhood in the northwest part of the valley, another pit bull was killed Friday after allegedly going on the attack.

The neighbor jumped into action, shooting and killing a pit bull that was biting a man and his two dogs. It happened just before 7 a.m. in Centennial Hills near Deer Springs way and Oso Blanca Road.

Witnesses said the man and his neighbors tried everything from pulling and hitting the dog before making the decision to shoot and kill it. They feared that if they didn’t subdue the dog, it would go after another person.

Vincent Hernandez and his 14-year-old dog Jay and 10-year-old Willow were the ones attacked.

“As I was walking down I heard something, and I saw the neighbor’s pit bull just charging at us,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez says before he could do anything, the pit bull went after Jay before attacking Willow.

“I’m just trying to get his jaws off my dog, but I, you know, got my hands in his mouth,” said Hernandez.

The commotion alerted his neighbors who came out to see what was happening. One of his neighbors was armed with a gun.

“I tried to hit him, tried to beat him off, but he didn’t even have a collar on so there was nothing to hold on to,” Hernandez said.

“The dog had a firm grip on my small dog, and I’m just looking at him going, ‘you’re gonna have to shoot him!’ I just held on to him. I just heard the gun shot.”

Hernandez said he stayed with the dead dog until animal control arrived. When they arrived, Hernandez was taken to the hospital with a broken finger, scrapes and bruises on his hands and knees.

“I might lose a nail depending; I have a bunch of stitches on my one hand because the bone was protruding through the skin,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez’s neighbors took his dogs to the vet for him while he was hospitalized.

Jay escaped with only a scrape on one of his front legs, but little Willow suffered the brunt of the attack, so she had to undergo surgery for several bite wounds and a deep gash on her neck.

“It’s the last thing I want to see; something like that happen as soon as I got one dog away,” said Hernandez. “This dog just had his jaws on my smaller dog, and it wouldn’t let go, no matter how much I tried and tried.”

8 News NOW tried to speak with the owner of the pit bull, but she asked for privacy.



According to Metro Police, the neighbor who shot the dog is not in any trouble.

