Police Fatally Shoot Pit Bull Who Was Mauling Its Owners in 'Vicious' Attack

Sheriff’s deputies in Florida shot and killed a pit bull that was attacking its owners in their home on Mother’s Day.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood wrote in a Facebook post that deputies responded to the home in New Smyrna Beach and found a “large dog actively attacking its owners.”

Chitwood wrote that a female victim crawled into the dog’s cage for safety while the dog began mauling the male on the floor of their bedroom.

Deputies fired at the dog, killing it and stopping the "vicious" attack, Chitwood wrote, before applying tourniquets to the victims’ “severe” wounds. Both victims sustained serious injuries and underwent multiple surgeries.

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Days after the attack, Chitwood wrote he received an email from the woman who was attacked, who wrote if the response "had been one second later, we wouldn’t have made it out alive." 

Police later discovered that the attack was the second by the dog in a week, who had been adopted six weeks before.

Citing the police report, Fox 35 reported that the dog was a pit bull.