Police shoot, kill dog after attack at housing complex

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW/Gray News) - A family is mourning the loss of one of its dogs after a violent altercation in a southeast Topeka housing complex parking lot left a pregnant woman hospitalized with serious injuries.

Topeka police said officers arrived at the Highland Park Townhomes shortly after midnight to find two dogs attacking a woman. An officer fired at and killed one of the dogs. The other was taken into custody by animal control.

What led to the attack

Police said a fight broke out between three individuals in front of the complex. Shortly after, a 6-year-old boy — the son of one of the participants — let the dogs out.

“He asked the security guards to help, and he didn’t, and then ran and went and opened the door and told his dogs, ‘Help my mommy,’ and that’s what they did,” an eyewitness and friend of the dog owner said.

Police said the dogs then attacked a woman who was not involved in the fight and bit a man who attempted to intervene. The Topeka Police Department said the dogs became aggressive with an officer who stepped in, leading him to discharge his weapon.

The woman who was attacked was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. The man was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Owner says dogs were protecting her

The dogs’ owner said she was jumped by the two other individuals involved in the fight and that the dogs were acting in defense of her and her son.

“Those dogs weren’t doing any harm; they were protecting my son, my six-year-old son, while they’re jumping me and ain’t nobody else helping me,” the dog owner said.

The mother of the hospitalized woman told reporters her daughter is 23 weeks pregnant and was in surgery throughout the morning.

Topeka police said the dogs’ owner is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.