Dogs Enter Home And Attack Disabled Woman

Two pit bulls entered a house through a pet door Tuesday and attacked a woman in her bed, mauling her badly, a Pierce County sheriff's spokesman said.

The woman is disabled, and the dogs may have entered her home to attack her caretaker dog, reports CBS affiliate KIRO-TV.

The woman was able to grab a gun and attempt to shoot the dogs, then broke away from the attack and locked herself in her car, calling 911 for help, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The 59-year-old woman, identified by neighbors as Sue Gorman, was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, where she was listed in satisfactory condition.

The pit bulls killed a Jack Russell terrier that entered the house during the attack, Troyer said. The Jack Russell, named Romeo, belonged to a neighbor.

"Romeo, my dog, he probably saved that lady's life," said the boy.

"The thought is that the Jack Russell heard noise in the neighbor's house, came in and was attacked by the dogs," Troyer said.

Firefighters responded first, locking the dogs in the house, treating the woman and calling for an ambulance.

Officers "had to pepper spray and fight the dogs until they were detained. We almost had to shoot them on site," Troyer said.

The dogs were taken to the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County, and will probably be destroyed, he said.

Zack Martin said he owns one of the pit bulls, a 2-year-old female named Betty, and was taking care of the other, a male named Tank, while his owner was out of town. Martin said he had Tank chained up in his backyard because of a past incident in which the two dogs got out and caused trouble together, but he allowed Betty to run loose in the fenced backyard. On Tuesday, he found the chain broken and both dogs gone.

"We never saw it coming," he said. "They're the kinds of dogs you'd let play with your babies."

"It's a horrible, horrible thing that happened," Shellie Wilson, owner of the other dog, told a local television station. "We're devastated. If we could take it back we would. ... We'll do everything we can to help the family and Sue and our neighbors."

It was not immediately known why the dogs entered the house or what set off the attack.

Troyer said Pierce County Animal Control was investigating.

"They've had problems over there before a couple of houses down with the dogs," neighbor Ricky Russell told KIRO.

Animal Control Officer Brian Boman, who responded, also said animal control officers have had past run-ins with the pit bulls, but couldn't say exactly how many.

The woman reportedly has a service dog of her own, which was in the house but uninjured.

The woman lives in an unincorporated area of Pierce County on the Key Peninsula.