OKC police shoot pit bull to stop attack

A police officer shot a pit bull attacking a woman Thursday morning in southwest Oklahoma City.

Three people suffered minor injuries in the incident which occurred about 9 a.m. at 408 Pumpkin Circle in the Woodrun subdivision.

Lt. Joe Marshall, Oklahoma City police spokesman, told reporters at the scene that three dogs were loose and that one attacked and killed a woman’s cat on her porch. When she tried to stop the attack, two dogs then attacked the woman and two people who came to her aid. Police shot one dog that later was caught by animal control

officers. Neighborhood residents said they’d had problems with roaming dogs in the past.

Jerry Smith, 70, who has lived in the area since 1988, said the dogs involved in Thursday’s attack have been seen roaming in recent weeks.

“There is just generally a lot of dogs running loose,” Smith said.

The dogs involved in Thursday’s incident were two pit bulls and a part-German shepherd. The dogs apparently escaped from a fenced yard on Pumpkin Circle.

“I think people should contain their dogs, you shouldn’t just let them run loose,” Smith said.

Between January 2016 and May 2018, Oklahoma City received 7,165 complaints about loose, vicious animals and 2,000 reports of animal bites, and issued 133 citations for dangerous dogs, meaning an attack actually took place.