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Dog Shot, Killed By Police After Attacking 9-Year-Old Girl, Others In East Harlem

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police shot and killed a dog in East Harlem Friday, after witnesses said the pit bull attacked several people.

Two NYPD Housing Bureau officers were on patrol around 5:45 p.m., when they were called for a dog off its leash in the Jefferson Houses public housing development, at 300 E. 115th St.

When they arrived, they found the pit bill bull attacking a 9-year-old girl, police said. The girl's 30-year-old mother and a man who stepped in as a Good Samaritan were attempting to free the child from the dog, police said.

The mother, the Good Samaritan and one of the officers were also attacked by the dog, before the animal was shot and killed by an officer, police said.

The girl and her mother were both taken to Harlem Hospital Center with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. One officer was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center with a minor bite injury, while the Good Samaritan was not injured, police said.

"The dog was attacking him. The guy was trying to stop it from biting the little girl, but the little girl was getting attacked for a while," a man who witnessed the incident said. "It was around eight minutes of screaming."

Police had not been able to find the dog's owner as of late Friday. There had been no arrests.

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