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Pit Bull Shot, Killed After Attacking Children

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Feb 22, 2009 12:17 am US/Eastern

Pit Bull Shot, Killed After Attacking Children

LAUDERHILL (CBS4) ― Four children are recovering from the shock of being attacked by a 100-pound pit bull Saturday night. Officers shot the dog, which later had to be euthanized.

As a breeder, Lorenzo Cooper knows pit bulls, but nothing could prepare him for what happened Saturday night. He woke up to find his dog, "Midnight", shot and bleeding outside his front door.

"The police were in front of the house with their guns drawn. I looked out and saw the dog laying on the ground with blood," he described.

Cooper says earlier in the evening, he allowed his nephew Elijah to take the dog for a walk. His nephew got to the playground on the 5400 block of NW 23rd Street in Lauderhill, where ten kids were playing. He says the dog went wild. "He was looking at them. He got mad. He starting pulling, the leash slipped off my hand," Elijah said.

The dog attacked Gregory Cunningham first. Cunningham has a mark on his back, "Just stung… like somebody was giving me a shot."

A five-year-old victim says the dog bit him on the lip and chest. Another victim says the dog ran him down, "And then I ran and he chased me and bit my shirt and bit me a little bit. I have a little scar."

"I didn't want the police to shoot," that same young man said. "They told us to close our eyes. We did. But on the first gunshot we opened our eyes."

Cooper says police arrived and fired five shots at the dog. He says he understands children may have been in danger, but he thinks it could have been handled differently. "They could have tased him, maced him, anything. You had to shoot a dog around kids to get it off them?"

Cooper has another pet pit bull and he says if he's learned anything, it's not to let a child walk his dog. "Keep the dog to myself and that's it."

(CBS4 Reporter Joan Murray contributed to this story.)

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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