A 10-year-old dachshund named Sebastian was killed over the weekend by a loose pit bull in a convenience store parking lot in Englewood.

The pit bull dashed inside the 7-Eleven Store, 3131 S. Broadway, when the front door opened and grabbed Sebastian, who was on a leash and had been hiding behind his owner’s mobility scooter.

“He didn’t deserve to die like that,” said Sebastian’s owner, Eileen Trujillo, 63, who uses the scooter because she has polio.

Trujillo, who lives about six blocks from the store, said she went there at 8:30 p.m. Friday with her husband, John.

They noticed the loose dog outside. It had no collar or tags, and Trujillo was concerned.

“I told my husband, ‘I’m not going to go out there. He’s going to kill my dog,’ ” Trujillo said.

She said the clerk in the store made a telephone call to Englewood animal control to report the loose dog. But as customer traffic went in and out the front door, the pit bull pounced.

Sebastian’s leash wrapped around Trujillo’s leg and she was pulled outside, still in the cart, by the attacking dog.

“I was screaming, my husband was yelling,” Trujillo said.

About a half-dozen men, including her husband, tried to rescue Sebastian, pouring hot water and coffee on the aggressive dog, which was even hit with a piece of lumber, Trujillo said.

Police were called about 8:50 p.m. on a report of two dogs fighting, said Sgt. Brian Cousineau, an Englewood Police Department spokesman.

When officers arrived, the dachshund was dead.

Police secured the pit bull, Cousineau said, and put it on a temporary hold. As part of the hold process, a background check on the dog’s license and vaccines showed they are up-to-date, Cousineau said, and the dog is back home.

The pit bull’s owner, a 28-year-old woman, told officers the dog escaped her yard the night of the incident. She said it is not aggressive toward people — only other dogs. The owner has been cited for having a “loose dog,” Cousineau said, and a court date in the case has been set.

A clerk at the store declined to comment Monday.

Meanwhile, Trujillo is grieving the loss of her “little, tiny guy,” she said. Sebastian loved going for walks, Trujillo said, especially to the store where he typically got a treat.

“We’d say, ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ and he’d get all excited,” Trujillo recalled. “We just wanted to go for a walk, take my dog and get him a treat. We did it all the time; we never had any problems.”

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ kierannicholson