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Martin County deputy kills dog that viciously attacked woman, sheriff's office says

Posted at 9:36 AM, Aug 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-22 20:09:26-04

The Martin County Sheriff's Office said one of its deputies was forced to kill a 105-pound American bulldog that attacked a woman Monday morning.

The sheriff's office said it happened after 5 a.m. on SE Matousek Street when the animal attacked the mother of the dog's owner. 

She was walking the dog at the time and it went after a rabbit then turned on her, the sheriff's office said.

The victim was seriously injured but managed to crawl to a screen enclosure, the sheriff's office said.

 

"The victim was screaming for help and even at one point urged the deputies to shoot the dog," Sheriff Snyder said.

The bulldog prevented the deputies from getting close to the victim and was acting aggressively so one of the deputies pulled out a 12-gauge shotgun and killed the dog, according to the sheriff's office. 

Those who live in the Rocky Point neighborhood were very shocked and disturbed by the incident.

“Very shocking. We’ve never heard of anything aggressive with the animal and we have grandchildren that play out in the yard, so I always keep my eye over there but there's never been any issues,” said neighbor Renee Reeves.

The neighborhood is now coming together to help the victim.
“We love her and we’re going to support her," said Sherry Lee. "What ever it takes, we’re going to get her through this. Right now we’re all pretty upset.”

The victim has multiple puncture wounds to the head and body and suffered a compound fracture to her arm and is hospitalized but the injuries are not life threatening, according to Snyder.

The sheriff said there was one previous report of the dog jumping into someone's golf cart, but no reports of the dog being aggressive 

A GoFundme account has been set up for the victim.