Three escaped dogs terrorize neighborhood, wound six

CARY, Ill. -- A 10-year-old boy was in critical condition Sunday after three pit bulls escaped from their home in unincorporated McHenry County and went on a rampage, attacking six people before being shot and killed by police, authorities said.

"The dogs got out of the house and were marauding through the neighborhood," said McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren. "When we got there, the dogs attacked our police officers, and we had to put them down."

No charges had been filed by Sunday, but a McHenry County sheriff's department spokeswoman said the investigation would continue.

"We're treating it like a crime scene for now," Nygren said Saturday. "Any animal needs to be under control. Obviously in this case, they were not."

Neighbors said the attacks started late Saturday afternoon when children going door-to-door for a fund-raiser arrived at the home of Scott Sword, 41, who owned the dogs.

"We had music playing, and I heard this bizarre sound," said Debby Rivera, who lives three houses away. "I looked out the window, and I saw a young boy. The dogs were just jumping on him."

The dogs attacked 10-year-olds Jordan Lamarre and her friend, Nick Foley, witnesses said.

"The screams were horrible," Rivera said. The dogs were "relentless, like they were possessed."

When Sword tried to stop the dogs, they attacked him and bit off his thumb, Nygren said.

Foley's father, Harold, also tried to protect his son and was attacked, police and neighbors said.

The dogs headed south and assaulted another neighbor. Desperate residents, some armed with rocks and pots and pans, tried to help. One woman parked her sport utility vehicle in the middle of the street and honked the horn, hoping to distract the dogs.

"The scene sprawled over a couple blocks, it was a very chaotic scene for the first crew," said Lt. Michael Douglas of the Cary Fire Protection District.

Jim Malone said he and a neighbor tried to beat the dogs back with baseball bats. "He'd hit them, they'd run, and they'd come back," Malone said. "This went on for 15 minutes."

Police and firefighters told residents to return to their homes as at least a dozen shots rang out through the neighborhood. Police said the dogs, which weighed as much as 80 pounds and had been contained in their house after the initial attack, escaped for a second time as officers waited for Animal Control officials.

Nick Foley was in critical condition and Lamarre was in serious condition Sunday at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, a nursing supervisor said.

Harold Foley was in good condition Sunday at Centegra Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry, a hospital spokeswoman said. Sword, Gerd Gerdes, 42, and a sixth victim, James Dunne, 48, were treated at Centegra and Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington and released.