A German shepherd suspected in a series of vicious and unprovoked attacks on people in Pontiac this week died in a face-off with Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies in Auburn Hills early Friday, Eric D. Lawrence reports in the Free Press.
The dog was one of two now-dead German shepherds that authorities said had terrorized residents and emergency workers Wednesday and Thursday. In one attack Thursday morning, the dogs bit and dragged a 56-year-old Pontiac woman down a city street. She was rescued by a passing motorist.
The Oakland Press reports a sheriff’s deputy shot one of the dogs when both charged him after the attack on the 56-year-old woman. The second dog escaped and was hit by a car while it was being pursued. The missing dog was later shot by a deputy in a wooded area near Perry Street and Giddings Road just after 2 a.m. Friday after it was initially spotted in Auburn Hills and unsuccessful attempts to capture it were made.
Dustin Blitchok writes that when Maria Gialdi, the 56-year-old victim, got out of her car on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon, she felt sorry for the two German shepherds she saw trotting down the road toward her. The feeling didn’t last.
“They looked at me, we made eye contact and they just made a beeline toward me. They just started attacking me and I started yelling for help. Nobody came to help. The next door neighbor was actually shoveling snow. He didn’t even look up,” said Gialdi, 53, who received about 50 stitches on the puncture wounds at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland. Plastic surgery will likely be needed.
