A woman has died and two others were injured following a dog attack in Alabama.
Deputies responded to a report of a dog bite on Macks Way in Oneonta around 3 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Sept. 23, according to the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, per AL.com, WBRC and WVTM 13. Upon arrival, authorities found 61-year-old Sandra Wolfe Schaefer and two others injured.
Officials said a man was caring for the dog on behalf of a friend currently in the Jefferson County Jail, per WVTM 13. While taking a break from work in his shop to walk the dog, the animal reportedly “went crazy” and bit his hands, nearly severing his fingers, according to the sheriff’s office, per AL.com.
Schaefer and her husband, who were visiting the man, were attacked as they tried to pull the dog off its caretaker.
A fourth person then shot and killed the dog, police told PEOPLE.
“A neighbor/family member of the sitter ran over and attempted to shoot the dog to stop the attack but the gun malfunctioned. When the dog disengaged, he was able to shoot the dog which didn’t survive,” Jason Paul, sergeant of public information at Blount County Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement to PEOPLE.
All three victims were hospitalized with severe injuries. Schaefer later succumbed to her injuries on Friday, Sept. 26, the sheriff’s office added.
Paul noted that the dog had no previous history of violence, tested negative for rabies, and no criminal charges are expected.
According to AL.com, there have been at least four other fatal dog attacks in Alabama this year.
On July 22, a 7-year-old boy was killed on the property where he lived in Chilton County, and two days later, a 50-year-old woman, Delores M. Musgrove, was found dead in Bessemer following a dog attack.
In March, a 6-month-old girl was killed by her family’s pit bull in Alabaster, and in February, a 46-year-old woman died after being attacked by a pack of dogs at a neighbor’s home in Tuscaloosa County, per WVTM 13.
