2 dogs dead from Oak Creek dog attack

 

Updated at 4:45 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3

OAK CREEK, Wis. (CB 58) -- Sophie, the terrier, passed away on Sunday, Dec. 3 from her injuries. The GoFundMe page remains active. 

OAK CREEK, Wis. (CBS 58) -- One dog is dead, and another badly injured after a vicious dog attack in Oak Creek. Police say it happened Thursday afternoon outside a senior apartment complex. 

Oak Creek police are now searching for this White SUV pictured below, and the driver in it. Witnesses saw the driver let four large dogs run around unleashed at a field across from the Lake Forest Apartments on Highway 32. His dogs spotted two small dogs in the distance and took after them.

"We did a big loop and I saw him across the street and I'm like, 'oh God, there he is again,' and I saw the dogs running," said Jill Barbian, dog walker and witness to the attack. 

Barbian was nearly home Thursday after her daily walk with Linda, the chihuahua, and Sophie, the terrier. Both are her friend's dogs, but the three didn't make it home.

"I was screaming at them, and they were both looking at me to help them," said Barbian. 

Just steps from the door to get inside her friend's home, Linda and Sophie were badly attacked by the four large dogs. The unleashed dogs' owner ran to help, but...

"He couldn't control them. He was on the ground, and he had his legs wrapped around the dogs, trying to keep them down," said Barbian. 

"And so, I was putting my hands in their mouths to try to get them pried open to let go, but they just had a good grip on her, and I just saw all the blood and I thought she was still alive at that time, but then the other one was grabbing Sophie," said Barbian.

It was a fight, but Barbian eventually was able to lift Sophie to safety. Linda was already dead. 

"And it's all this guy's fault. He knows that he has vicious dogs, and he leaves them off leash," said Barbian.

Sophie's got over a dozen puncture wounds, four broken ribs, and a broken jaw, but she is a fighter. Years earlier, she survived a fire that killed her previous owner. 

"I think she's just scared and lonesome. I'm sure she's wondering where her sister is," said Barbian. 

Now, neighbors are trying to help. 

"It's gonna be a long road for her. She's a 10-year-old dog. So, she's got a lot of love here.  Sophie's a fighter," said Virginia Smith, the dog owner's neighbor and friend. 

Smith is already taking up a collection for Sophie's medical bills, to try to help Sophie's owner, who has cancer. 

"Pray we find the guy because we want him prosecuted. You know, he killed one of our little residents and maimed one very bad," said Smith. 

Another friend put together a GoFundMe page to help with Sophie's vet bills which are already totaling over $5,000.