On Friday afternoon, firefighters were dispatched to a residential area in San Antonio, Texas to respond to a report of an elderly man being dragged by a dog. When they arrived, they saw the 81-year-old man “completely bloodied” and the two American Staffordshire terriers also attacking two other people, leaving them with visible bite injuries.
The dogs were aggressive towards the firefighters, preventing them from aiding the victims, so the SAFD personnel had to use pickaxes and pike poles for protection. A fire captain was wounded on the leg and another person on the hand.
All three were taken to University Hospital, with the elderly man eventually dying from his wounds. Fire Chief Charles Hood described the situation as “horrific” and praised the firefighters as “very heroic”.
A felony charge was filed against the owner of the dogs, Christian Alexander Moreno, for the attack. There were three dogs seized by animal control, all belonging to the same property owner, but only two were believed to be involved in the attack. San Antonio Animal Care Services said the two American Staffordshire terriers had been involved in a previous bite incident in 2021 and were temporarily impounded, then returned to their owners.
It is important to note that there is no technical breed called a ‘pit bull’, but rather the American pit bull terrier and the American Staffordshire terrier, which are similar but differ in size and other physical traits.