Jennifer Cooper (right) and a neighbor, who holds her 1-year-old son. (KTLA News) |
LAKE FOREST -- A woman in Lake Forest shot her neighbor's dog after the animal attacked her 6-year-old daughter, authorities said.
The attack happened just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday outside a home in the 22500 block of Marylhurst Court.
A 14-year-old boy heard screams and saw a brown and white boxer grab his 6-year-old sister's shoulder while she was playing on the driveway with her 3-year-old sister.
The boy ran to the driveway and tried to pull his sister away from the animal, but the dog then bit the girl seven times on the leg, head, shoulder and face, authorities said.
The girl's mother, Jennifer Cooper, was on the porch with her 1-year-old child and saw the dog bite her daughter. She said she tried to get the children in the house and scare the dog away.
She told police the dog tried to lunge at the youngest child, and she then went inside the home, got a Glock pistol and shot the dog in the throat.
"It could have been much worse," Cooper told KTLA. "I could be at the E.R. right now with a child that's been severely mauled or even dead."
"What's more valuable, a child or a dog?" Cooper asked. "Always the answer should be a child."
The injured girl was treated by paramedics at the scene.
The dog is in critical condition.
Neighbors told KTLA they think she did the right thing.
"I was crying and shaking afterward because it was horrifying to see the kids mauled by the dog," neighbor Lisa Horner told KTLA.
The children said they have seen the dog in the neighborhood, according to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The owner hasn't been located yet, however.
The attack happened just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday outside a home in the 22500 block of Marylhurst Court.
A 14-year-old boy heard screams and saw a brown and white boxer grab his 6-year-old sister's shoulder while she was playing on the driveway with her 3-year-old sister.
The boy ran to the driveway and tried to pull his sister away from the animal, but the dog then bit the girl seven times on the leg, head, shoulder and face, authorities said.
The girl's mother, Jennifer Cooper, was on the porch with her 1-year-old child and saw the dog bite her daughter. She said she tried to get the children in the house and scare the dog away.
She told police the dog tried to lunge at the youngest child, and she then went inside the home, got a Glock pistol and shot the dog in the throat.
"It could have been much worse," Cooper told KTLA. "I could be at the E.R. right now with a child that's been severely mauled or even dead."
"What's more valuable, a child or a dog?" Cooper asked. "Always the answer should be a child."
The injured girl was treated by paramedics at the scene.
The dog is in critical condition.
Neighbors told KTLA they think she did the right thing.
"I was crying and shaking afterward because it was horrifying to see the kids mauled by the dog," neighbor Lisa Horner told KTLA.
The children said they have seen the dog in the neighborhood, according to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The owner hasn't been located yet, however.
