Post by Currmudgeon on Dec 1, 2003 11:43:46 GMT -5
Woman killed in dog attack
Two men injured as pack of pit bulls goes on rampage
By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
December 1, 2003
ELBERT COUNTY - Three pit bulls attacked and killed a 40-year-old woman who was on her way to feed her horses Sunday morning.
The pack of savage dogs then turned on the woman's longtime partner - who'd gone to look for her - and also later attacked a neighbor.
Both men were released after being treated at an area medical center for wounds to their forearms.
The dogs were shot and killed by the neighbor's 16-year-old son.
Jennifer Brooke went out to feed her horses about 7 a.m., Elbert County Sheriff Bill Frangis said. Her partner, Bjorn Osmunsen, 24, became worried when she didn't return. When he went to look for her, the pack attacked him outside the house. He got away and called for help at 9:50 a.m.
Deputies found Brooke's body in an indoor riding arena near her home in Meadow Brook Ranches subdivision, Frangis said.
Paramedics worked on her for 40 minutes before she was airlifted to Swedish Medical Center, where she was dead on arrival.
Frangis said she was attacked "everywhere."
"It was absolutely gruesome," he said. "This was not a five-minute attack. These dogs were methodically moving around."
Osmunsen had a "severe bite" on his right hand.
"The dogs actually ripped his coat off," Frangis said. "He was driven off by the dogs."
The dogs left on their own but later attacked Clifford Lynn Baker, 42, a few hundred yards away at 43248 Meadow Brook Circle, northwest of Elizabeth.
Baker was working in his front yard near his garage about 11 a.m. when the dogs jumped him.
"I got scared because I felt myself going down," Baker told News 4. "I kicked the big one real hard and jumped in my truck.
"The big one had me here," he said, pointing to his left arm. "One of the little ones was jumping at my throat. . . . I'll heal. Unfortunately, my neighbor, Jennifer, won't."
He started shouting for his son, Cody, to help him. Cody grabbed a shotgun when he saw the dogs jumping at the truck and shot them. Frangis called the teen a "hero."
Frangis said the dogs' owners have been "partially" interviewed.
He said that there have been previous complaints about the marauding dogs and that the dogs attacked at least one other person over the summer.
"We're pulling all of the records now," he said.
He said no charges had been filed.
"There will not be any charges until the investigation is complete and we confer with the (district attorney)," Frangis said. "We want to do this in a proper, professional manner."
The dogs, two females and a male, will be tested for rabies at Colorado State University, he said. Frangis said that the male dog was the most aggressive and largest of the three, "all head and muscle," weighing about 85 pounds.
He said there is no indication so far that the dogs were trained to attack or kill.
"They were just mean dogs," Frangis said.
David Healy, who also lives near Elizabeth, said he worried about his two children when he heard the news.
"It's terrible," he said. "They ride their bikes around here. That was my first thought."
Kim Hotton, 46, has two dogs that she keeps in a pen near her rural Elbert County home, and occasionally they jump out.
But she said that she has never feared dogs in her area.
"It was a shock to see it," Hotton said. "A lot of people let their dogs run loose."
rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2468913,00.html
Two men injured as pack of pit bulls goes on rampage
By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
December 1, 2003
ELBERT COUNTY - Three pit bulls attacked and killed a 40-year-old woman who was on her way to feed her horses Sunday morning.
The pack of savage dogs then turned on the woman's longtime partner - who'd gone to look for her - and also later attacked a neighbor.
Both men were released after being treated at an area medical center for wounds to their forearms.
The dogs were shot and killed by the neighbor's 16-year-old son.
Jennifer Brooke went out to feed her horses about 7 a.m., Elbert County Sheriff Bill Frangis said. Her partner, Bjorn Osmunsen, 24, became worried when she didn't return. When he went to look for her, the pack attacked him outside the house. He got away and called for help at 9:50 a.m.
Deputies found Brooke's body in an indoor riding arena near her home in Meadow Brook Ranches subdivision, Frangis said.
Paramedics worked on her for 40 minutes before she was airlifted to Swedish Medical Center, where she was dead on arrival.
Frangis said she was attacked "everywhere."
"It was absolutely gruesome," he said. "This was not a five-minute attack. These dogs were methodically moving around."
Osmunsen had a "severe bite" on his right hand.
"The dogs actually ripped his coat off," Frangis said. "He was driven off by the dogs."
The dogs left on their own but later attacked Clifford Lynn Baker, 42, a few hundred yards away at 43248 Meadow Brook Circle, northwest of Elizabeth.
Baker was working in his front yard near his garage about 11 a.m. when the dogs jumped him.
"I got scared because I felt myself going down," Baker told News 4. "I kicked the big one real hard and jumped in my truck.
"The big one had me here," he said, pointing to his left arm. "One of the little ones was jumping at my throat. . . . I'll heal. Unfortunately, my neighbor, Jennifer, won't."
He started shouting for his son, Cody, to help him. Cody grabbed a shotgun when he saw the dogs jumping at the truck and shot them. Frangis called the teen a "hero."
Frangis said the dogs' owners have been "partially" interviewed.
He said that there have been previous complaints about the marauding dogs and that the dogs attacked at least one other person over the summer.
"We're pulling all of the records now," he said.
He said no charges had been filed.
"There will not be any charges until the investigation is complete and we confer with the (district attorney)," Frangis said. "We want to do this in a proper, professional manner."
The dogs, two females and a male, will be tested for rabies at Colorado State University, he said. Frangis said that the male dog was the most aggressive and largest of the three, "all head and muscle," weighing about 85 pounds.
He said there is no indication so far that the dogs were trained to attack or kill.
"They were just mean dogs," Frangis said.
David Healy, who also lives near Elizabeth, said he worried about his two children when he heard the news.
"It's terrible," he said. "They ride their bikes around here. That was my first thought."
Kim Hotton, 46, has two dogs that she keeps in a pen near her rural Elbert County home, and occasionally they jump out.
But she said that she has never feared dogs in her area.
"It was a shock to see it," Hotton said. "A lot of people let their dogs run loose."
rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2468913,00.html
I have a woman down the street where I live that owns Two akitas (one male- one female). If just One of them gets out, they pretty much leave us alone, but if both get out, they turn into terrors. 
It's pack behaviour.