‘It was either it or me;’ Group speaks out after shooting at dogs involved in Springfield attacks

A group of people are speaking out after firing shots at two dogs who charged at them, killing one after they reportedly attacked a child and woman.

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The series of dog attacks were reported in Springfield on Saturday and it’s believed the same two dogs were involved in them all.

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The first was on West Liberty Street where an 11-year-old boy was mauled.

Sarah Lane, Raven Jackson, and Andrew Burry told News Center 7 that they helped the boy, connecting him with his family and then first responders.

“He said he was running through the alley and he almost got away until the black one jumped on him and bit his shoulder,” Lane said. “He thought he was going to die.”

The dogs then continued onto a bike path near Noel Drive where they attacked a woman.

The group heard screaming from that attack and walked to investigate it.

Body camera video obtained by News Center 7 shows Springfield Police putting a tourniquet on the woman’s arm and an ambulance arriving at the scene.

As shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, officers are seen moving toward the bike path to look for the dogs, described as black pit bull mixes. As they search, they hear gunshots from a couple blocks away.

The shots came from the group News Center 7 spoke to on Tuesday afternoon. They said they were walking back home when the dogs charged at them. That’s when they fired shots at the dogs to defend themselves.

“In that moment, it was either it or me and it wasn’t going to be me,” Jackson said.

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