Teen kills pit bull after its rampage

A stray pit bull burst into an East Carson City home and attacked a dog, then jumped a fence and killed another dog before being stabbed to death by a teenage boy as it went after his Labrador on Tuesday afternoon.

“I just don’t understand why,” said Tara Yeoman, whose dogs Duke and Emma fell victim to the vicious pit bull about 4:30 p.m. “Why was this dog out? And why was it looking for something to attack?”

Just after 4 p.m., the Yeoman’s neighbor on Ballarat Street was changing a tire when the pit bull broke through the man’s screen door and went after his small dog in the living room, said Carson City Sheriff’s Sgt. Earl Mays.

The man ran inside and beat the pit bull in the head, possibly breaking his hand, before he was able to free his dog, get the pit bull outside and call police.

But the animal didn’t go far, said Tyler Yeoman, 17.

The Yeomans think the pit bull jumped the 6-foot fence into their yard and killed Emma,

a tiny dachshund-

Chihuahua mix.

It was the yelping of Duke, the family’s 11-year-old, 130-pound Labrador that woke Tyler and his mother, both suffering from the flu.

Tyler said he could see through the sliding glass door that the pit bull had Duke by his neck on the ground. Tyler threw a cereal bowl at the animal, but that didn’t faze it, he said.

His mother ran from her bedroom and struck the pit bull with a cinder block, to no avail.

Then Tyler told his mother he was going to get a knife.

When he returned, the soft-spoken teen said, he began stabbing the pit bull, at least 10 times that he could recall, before it released its grip on Duke’s neck.

“I just wanted to shut him down,” said Tyler, still in a daze. “And I did.”

The pit bull died at the scene. Duke did not sustain serious injury.

After police arrived, they found Emma’s body alongside the fence.

“She was the sweetest little thing,” Tara said through tears. “Her and Duke were very close. She used to stand on his back like she was a circus dog.”

Tara said after it was all over, Duke lumbered over to the sliding glass door and whined as if he was looking for Emma.

“It’s awful,” she said. “It’s just good there were no kids in the neighborhood because I’m pretty sure (the pit bull) would have been after the kids.”

Mays said neighbors directed deputies to the pit bull owner’s home on Sherman Lane. The owner will likely be cited for maintaining a vicious animal, Mays said.

“I just would have to think that dog was crazed,” said Tara. “To attack the neighbors then come after our dogs. I just don’t understand.”

• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.