Heather Bell
RADFORD – A teenage boy was attacked by a neighbor’s dog on Friday, prompting an investigation.
The father of the victim shot and killed the dog after the owner could not stop the attack.
According to Public Information Coordinator Jenni Goodman, “on May 3 at 6:19 p.m. Radford City Police and Fire/EMS Department personnel responded to a residence in the 300 block of Russell Avenue for a report of juvenile being attacked by a dog.” “Upon arrival, officers found a 15-year-old male that had been bitten multiple times by a neighbor’s dog,” Goodman stated. “The victim had been outside visiting his neighbor when the dog, an approximately 100-pound Cane Corso breed, escaped the residence and attacked the juvenile.”
According to Goodman, the neighbor, who is the dog’s owner, “attempted to intervene and stop the attack but was not able to.”
To stop the attack, the “victim’s father observed the incident taking place and retrieved a 9MM pistol from his residence next door and fired two shots, striking the dog one time,” stated Goodman. “The dog was found deceased at the scene.”
The juvenile victim had significant injuries, including a fractured leg bone. He was transported by Radford Emergency Medical Services to the New River Valley Medical Center where he was treated for “approximately seven dog bites to his arms, legs, and hands and underwent surgery for a fractured leg bone,” Goodman said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Radford City Police and no charges have been placed at this time.
