Northwest Indiana Bureau

Boy, 10, Wounded In Pit Bull Attack In Gary

GARY, Ind. (STNG) ― A 10-year-old boy is being treated for serious dog bites at after an attack by a pit bull in Gary, Ind. on Monday afternoon.

Around 4:30 p.m., Andre Perry was grilling steaks in his back yard when he heard people yelling about a pit bull that was loose in the 4000 block of 22nd Plaza.

The male dog had ripped the pants and shirt off one boy. Perry told three boys to get on the roof of the car while he grabbed a bat.

Marie Butts heard the "boy screaming at a pitch only a mom would know" and immediately called police and told them a pit bull was loose.

Butts said a 10-year-old boy hopped off the car to run away, but the dog locked its jaws around his ankle in front of the house. Butts, who is six months pregnant, made a run for her bedroom. The boy got loose from the dog and ran in after her. They managed to shut the bedroom door before the dog got inside.

Butts said the wound was deep and the boy was bleeding badly.

Perry said he took a bat and struck the dog in the head and stunned it.

"I was worried about my wife, those boys and my dogs," Perry said. "I had no choice. I had to do something."

Gary EMS transported the boy to the hospital and Animal Control arrived to take the dog.

Perry said the dog belonged to a neighbor. He said a female pit bull used to get loose in his back yard often, but she would never bite anyone.

(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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