Graphic video captured the moment Texas firefighters fended off dogs savagely mauling an elderly man using their axes and a pike.
(Video: KSAT)
The incident occurred Friday in San Antonio’s West Side where an elderly couple had been on their way to visit family. After they had stepped out of their vehicle, city officials confirmed at least two of three dogs, later identified as American Staffordshire Terriers, left the confines of a fenced in property and attacked the 81-year-old man and 74-year-old woman.
When firefighters from the San Antonio Fire Department arrived on scene to render aid they saw a “gentleman being dragged by a dog. They could see him completely bloodied before they got off of the truck,” SAFD Fire Chief Charles Hood detailed during a press conference Friday.
“Nobody expects to go out and fight dogs in a situation like they did today,” he said.
Video captured by a local eyewitness showed the harrowing moments when the firefighters stepped in to protect the elderly man who was said to be behind the garbage can, according to KSAT. Wielding axes and a pike, the first responders swung and stabbed at one of the animals as another, noticeably covered in blood, ran in and out of the shot.
After the scene had been secured, the man was administered aid, but was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital. Meanwhile, NBC News reported the woman was in critical condition at University Hospital. One of the firefighters sustained a bite to the leg while a nearby Samaritan had been bitten in the hand.
The dogs’ owner Christian Alexander Moreno, 31, was charged with two felonies including the possession of a dog involved in a fatal attack and for causing injury to an elderly person. Concerned neighbors spoke out against the man and his dogs as they detailed this was not the first time the animals had proven a danger.
Christian Alexander Moreno faces a felony charge of ‘attack by dangerous dog causing death and injury to an elderly person.’https://t.co/TeZYGTlOgP pic.twitter.com/qd92Pm7d73
— News 4 San Antonio (@News4SA) February 25, 2023
Debra Flores shared surveillance footage from January with KSAT that depicted the dogs attacking a man as she and her son attempted to scare the animals away. “Take responsibility,” she said. “Your dogs killed somebody.”
Another neighbor said her son was bit by one of the dogs on her property and San Antonio Animal Care Services (SAACS) confirmed at least two incidents prior to Friday’s fatal attack. In 2021 dogs from the residence had been impounded SAACS for a mandatory quarantine after a “mild bite” had occurred.
“Those bites were mild. So those animals finished their state-required quarantine, and the owner paid reclaim fees, and by state law, we were required to return those animals,” SAACS Director Shannon Sims explained.
The agencies press release went on to detail, “Animal Care Services has identified three owned dogs either directly involved in the attack or who were off property at the time. All three dogs are in SAACS custody and will be euthanized tonight.”
“Witnesses indicate the dogs had broken through the front gate of their nearby home just before the incident,” they added.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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