'They just ripped out the skin'
TACOMA, Wash. -- Her face full of stitches and arms still wrapped in gauze and bandages, Sue Gorman sat in a hospital conference room Wednesday and recounted her escape from two pit bulls who mauled her in her own home.
"My arms -- they just ripped out the skin," she said.
Gorman, 59, was in bed Tuesday morning when two pit bulls belonging to a resident on her street came in through a small gap in a sliding door that she leaves open for her own service dog, Misty.
"They went right after my dogs," she said. "They went after the dogs and not me, initially. They were more interested in killing the dogs."
Gorman's dog ran from the home, but a smaller dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Romeo who was at Gorman's home at the time, was helpless.
"They were so big and Romeo was so little, and I was trying to protect and get him out, but there were two of them," she said.
The pit bulls cornered Romeo and killed him.
"By the time they pulled Romeo out of the closet.... I knew it was all over for Romeo," she said, still visibly shaken by the incident.
The pit bulls then attacked Gorman, biting her face, arms, legs and chest, leaving large gashes and puncture wounds.
Gorman tried to shoot the dogs, but was unsuccessful, and said she knew she had to get away before the dogs began biting her throat.
"She was jumping at my arms and tearing at my arms and jumping at my face," Gorman said of one of the pit bulls.
Bleeding and injured, Gorman managed to fight the dogs off long enough to get outside and lock herself in her car where she called 911. KOMO 4 News has obtained a tape of that frantic 911 call:
Operator: 911. What are you reporting?
Gorman: I had two pit bulls come over to my house and attack me and my dog, and kill my neighbor's dog in my house.
Operator: Where are you hurt?
Gorman: My arms, my chest, my face.
Medics took her to St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma, and doctors say she'll have to undergo several more surgeries to repair her injuries.
Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said deputies had to use pepper spray to subdue the dogs and load them into an animal control vehicle.
Troyer said the dogs were taken to the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County and will probably be destroyed.
Zack Martin said he owns one of the pit bulls, a 2-year-old female named Betty, and was taking care of the other, a male named Tank, while his owner was out of town.
Martin said he had Tank chained up in his backyard because of a past incident in which the two dogs got out and caused trouble together, but he allowed Betty to run loose in the fenced backyard. On Tuesday, he found the chain broken and both dogs gone.
"All that's going through my head are apologies," he said. "I'm sorry for the families' losses. I'm sorry for Sue being injured. There's nothing I can do about it."
Gorman said she is not angry with Martin, but she has no mercy for the dogs.
"They should take them out and shoot the damn things," she said.
Pierce County Animal Control Officer Brian Boman said animal control officers have had past run-ins with the pit bulls, but couldn't say exactly how many.
No charges have been filed yet against the dogs' owners.
Gorman's service dog, Misty, was in the house at the time of the attack but was not injured, and neighbors brought her to the hospital Wednesday to visit with Gorman.
"My arms -- they just ripped out the skin," she said.
Gorman, 59, was in bed Tuesday morning when two pit bulls belonging to a resident on her street came in through a small gap in a sliding door that she leaves open for her own service dog, Misty.
"They went right after my dogs," she said. "They went after the dogs and not me, initially. They were more interested in killing the dogs."
Gorman's dog ran from the home, but a smaller dog, a Jack Russell terrier named Romeo who was at Gorman's home at the time, was helpless.
"They were so big and Romeo was so little, and I was trying to protect and get him out, but there were two of them," she said.
The pit bulls cornered Romeo and killed him.
"By the time they pulled Romeo out of the closet.... I knew it was all over for Romeo," she said, still visibly shaken by the incident.
The pit bulls then attacked Gorman, biting her face, arms, legs and chest, leaving large gashes and puncture wounds.
Gorman tried to shoot the dogs, but was unsuccessful, and said she knew she had to get away before the dogs began biting her throat.
"She was jumping at my arms and tearing at my arms and jumping at my face," Gorman said of one of the pit bulls.
Bleeding and injured, Gorman managed to fight the dogs off long enough to get outside and lock herself in her car where she called 911. KOMO 4 News has obtained a tape of that frantic 911 call:
Operator: 911. What are you reporting?
Gorman: I had two pit bulls come over to my house and attack me and my dog, and kill my neighbor's dog in my house.
Operator: Where are you hurt?
Gorman: My arms, my chest, my face.
Medics took her to St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma, and doctors say she'll have to undergo several more surgeries to repair her injuries.
Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said deputies had to use pepper spray to subdue the dogs and load them into an animal control vehicle.
Troyer said the dogs were taken to the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County and will probably be destroyed.
Zack Martin said he owns one of the pit bulls, a 2-year-old female named Betty, and was taking care of the other, a male named Tank, while his owner was out of town.
Martin said he had Tank chained up in his backyard because of a past incident in which the two dogs got out and caused trouble together, but he allowed Betty to run loose in the fenced backyard. On Tuesday, he found the chain broken and both dogs gone.
"All that's going through my head are apologies," he said. "I'm sorry for the families' losses. I'm sorry for Sue being injured. There's nothing I can do about it."
Gorman said she is not angry with Martin, but she has no mercy for the dogs.
"They should take them out and shoot the damn things," she said.
Pierce County Animal Control Officer Brian Boman said animal control officers have had past run-ins with the pit bulls, but couldn't say exactly how many.
No charges have been filed yet against the dogs' owners.
Gorman's service dog, Misty, was in the house at the time of the attack but was not injured, and neighbors brought her to the hospital Wednesday to visit with Gorman.