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Neighbor trying to save Detroit woman from dog mauling accidentally shoots, kills her

Posted at 8:49 PM, Oct 09, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-10 07:17:35-04

A 53-year-old woman has been shot and killed on Detroit by her neighbor who police say was trying to save her from being mauled by a stray dog.

Police told Detroit-based WXYZ that the woman was walking through the neighborhood, on her way to go babysit.

Investigators believe the dog is a stray and it came up and attacked her while she was walking in the street. 

The neighbor heard the attack and came out to help.

"Attempted to be a Good Samaritan, came up, he was a CPL holder and used his hand gun and fired several shots, unfortunately one of those shots struck the woman,” said Capt. Darin Szilagy, with the Detroit Police Department.

The 53 year-old woman was transported to the hospital where she died shortly after.

Investigators said it will be up to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office if any charges will be filed.

"It's a very difficult situation, we feel terrible for the woman and her family and I feel terrible for the the man who was trying to truly help someone. It's a lose lose situation here,” said Szilagy.

Investigators said they believe the dog was hit once, if not more, but it ran away and it’s still missing.  

"We've done a pretty extensive grid search in the neighborhood, looking for this animal, being deceased or wounded and we have not located it,” said Szilagy.