Good Samaritan Saves Woman Attacked By Escaped Dogs 2 Weeks After Owner's Death

PERRIS (CBSLA) — A Perris woman is recovering from an attack by two pit bulls after the animals escaped from their owner's home two weeks after his death.

Angel Valenzuela says he heard the woman screaming last Thursday evening about an hour before nightfall. She was walking her bicycle down a dirt road in Perris when she crossed paths with two loose dogs.

"[At the] last second, I saw the dog like reached over and bit her neck and brought her down," he said.

Valenzuela ran outside his home and saw her using the bicycle as a shield against the dogs, who critically wounded her.

The 15-year-old was one of several Good Samaritans who risked his own safety to help save her life.

"She was telling me, 'I have kids. I don't wanna leave my kids.' Like, it hit me. I felt really bad," Valenzuela remembered. "I got on one knee and I was telling her, 'It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be fine.'"

One of Valenzuela's family members slammed a shovel on the ground to scare the dogs away. He says when first-responders arrived the victim was still alert and talking.

Neighbor Keith Jones knows the dogs and their owner well. He believes they attacked because they were very hungry.

"Ugh, those dogs aren't vicious," he said. "You know, two weeks. You're starving."

According to Jones, when he last saw the dog's owner two weeks ago, he had just finished moving all his belongings from the home he was leaving, said he didn't feel well and was going inside to lie down.

"We were hoping for the best but we got the worst," Jones said.

When Animal Control officers captured the dogs, they made an even more grim discovery at their home: the dog's owner was dead inside, and badly decomposed.

Authorities do not think the dogs attacked him.

Jones thinks his long-time neighbor suffered some sort of medical emergency.

"[He was a] real good guy," he said.

The woman's condition was not known at the time of this report.