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By Michael DiVittorio TribLive
Tarentum resident Margie Shutack is grateful her husband Michael will recover from what was described as a vicious dog attack on Halloween about a block away from their East Seventh Avenue home.
“God has been on our side,” said Shutack on Thursday evening. “I’m just so glad that he’s going to be all right.”
She was inside her home with their son when others alerted her of the attack. Another resident took cellphone video of the incident.
Up to five people, including Michael Shutack, were bitten by pit bulls on the loose in the neighborhood as trick-or-treating got underway, police said. They had earlier reports that as many as eight people may have been attacked.
“He looks like a zombie with blood all over him,” Margie Shutack said. “That’s how bad he was.”
Officers shot and killed one of two adult pit bulls involved in the attacks. Hoffman Kennels removed another adult dog from an apartment of a row house at the intersection of East Seventh Avenue and lower Ormond Street.
Police initially investigated the incident as involving three dogs, but neighbors later informed them there was a fourth pit bull on the loose.
Two were described as puppies, and the second one was found. The other puppy was reportedly with another resident.
Tarentum police Lt. Mark Glogowski said a woman, who he identified as the dogs’ owner and an apartment tenant, was taken into custody. Police are working with an Allegheny County humane officer to determine what charges will be filed.
Glogowski said the apartment was in deplorable condition, and officers were trying to figure out how the dogs were let loose.
Brad James, chief of Eureka Fire-Rescue-EMS, said three attack victims were hospitalized in stable condition.
“It couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” James said. Numerous trick-or-treaters were turned away from East Seventh Avenue for their safety.
Margie Shutack said her husband suffered injuries to his face, leg and arm.
“No dog should go after somebody like that,” she said.
The wife said she believes her husband will have to have plastic surgery to repair a hole in his left cheek, and only had one request while hospitalized.
