An 8-year-old girl was seriously injured when a dog attacked her Thursday evening in a Harnett County neighborhood.
Brian Ellis, a neighbor who was injured trying to help the child, told WRAL News that he saw an Akita walking without a collar and, moments later, heard a blood-curdling scream.
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According to the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, the girl was playing with friends on Bison Lane.
"A couple of the kids were running down from the cul de sac screaming that he's attacking," Ellis said.
When he got around the corner, Ellis saw the dog attacking the 8-year-old girl, whom he identified as Piper Dobyns.
"I saw the dog, sitting on top of a girl. The dog was sitting on her," he said. "She was in the plank position with her hands covering her face, screaming, and the dog was biting her head."
Ellis said he and his fiancée got the dog off the child.
"Then I called for someone to bring something to kill this thing," he said.
Ellis and sheriff's deputies said another neighbor shot and killed the dog.
Ellis, 51, was treated at a local hospital. He had bandages on his arm Friday.
On Saturday, WRAL News spoke with Lavester Brown, the dog's owner. The dog was named Cairo.
WRAL News asked Brown if he takes responsiblity for what happened.
"For him [Cairo] to bite someone, and especially the little child from the hospital, I take responsibility for that," Brown said. "I will own up to my truth."
Brown said the kids provoked Cairo after viewing his surveillance video.
“He was enticed off my property by one of those kids, and then all of the issues or incident happened,” Brown said.
Ellis disagreed with Brown, saying Cairo attacked without warning.
"I wouldn't place the blame on 8-year-old [or] 10-year-old kids that were not, as he put, 'provoking him,'" Ellis said. "He's seeing it from one side."
Authorities took Dobyns to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill due to the severity of her injuries.
"She had multiple lacerations, puncture wounds on her legs, buttocks and upper and lower back," Ellis said. "She suffered multiple fractures to the skull."
Ellis and deputies said the dog had been tied outside, but apparently the dog was able to slip its tether.
"If I would have let go, he would have gone after me. I would have been much worse than I was," Ellis said. "This went from saving a small child to saving my own life."
One video shows Cairo following behind the child.
Brown said that's where he thinks the problem began.
"Why would you let your kid walk a dog that he doesn't know back to a property to get a ball?" Brown said.
"Your integrity is everything," Brown said. "It's your duty to protect that until it crosses with someone else's."
Brown showed WRAL News security camera footage from the day of the dog attack. In the video, a child is seen going into the yard where the dog was. The dog then followed the child out of that area and onto Blakely Court.
WRAL News asked Ellis how he's feeling on Saturday.
"I'm angry that something as simple as [keeping] your dog controlled could have fixed all of this," Ellis said.
WRAL News reached out to the Harnett County Sheriff's Office about the video. The sheriff's office said it could not comment on the video, but that its investigation is ongoing.