Pit Bull Euthanized After Boy, Man Attacked In North Aurora

NORTH AURORA, IL — North Aurora police said officers were forced to shoot a dog that attacked a child, causing serious injuries. The man who owned the dog was also seriously hurt when he tried to help the little boy, and police said Friday that the child's mother received injuries to her hands as she freed the child from the pit bull.

The owner of the townhouse told ABC Chicago that her tenant had a friend over and the friend's 6-year-old son was filling water balloons when the dog, a 5-year-old pit bull named Maximus, attacked. The dog then attacked its owner when he tried to protect the child, she said. She called the attack "mind-boggling," saying the dog had never attacked before.

North Aurora police responded to the home in the 200 block of Hidden Creek Lane just after 3:30 p.m. as the dog was "actively attacking" its owner inside the locked residence. Upon arriving, police and North Aurora firefighters first rescued an uninjured 2-year-old boy through a bedroom window.

Emergency crews then breached the front door to rescue the dog's owner. At the same time, workers breached the garage door, and police said the dog appeared from around a corner, covered in blood.

Fearing the dog may attack police, firefighters or neighbors who had gathered, an officer fired four gunshots, hitting the pit bull. The dog retreated and was later found alive under a bed, police said. An animal control officer later removed the dog, which was euthanized at a veterinary hospital, Aurora Animal Control told the Daily Herald.

Both the 6-year-old boy and the man were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries, and were later transferred to other Chicago-area hospitals, police said in a news release Friday. Officials said they did not know their condition.