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5-Year-Old Boy Attacked By Pit Bull

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A little boy's leg was mangled by his neighbor's dog in East Baltimore.

Kelly McPherson spoke to the brave 5-year-old and to the dog's owner.

After a dog attack, the kindergartener is recovering with 106 stitches and 12 staples.

"I was going over there with my friend.  The dog came over out of the yard; he came under the gate and bit my leg," said Khalil Willis.  "I told him to get off of me, but he kept biting my leg."

"It was just last night he was asking me to ride the scooter and now that that happened, he won't be riding the scooter for a while," said Willis' stepfather, Carlton Matthews.

The family says the attack happened in an East Baltimore alley Monday afternoon.  Bystanders threw bricks at the dog to scare it away.

Animal Control is taking the dog away from the owner.

"They have the wrong dog," said the owner.

"There are a lot of dogs around here who look alike," said the owner's friend, Wayne Eggleston.

The owner also claimed not to know anything about another dog WJZ saw in the upstairs window where he lives.

A neighbor said off-camera that her son was bitten by the same dog recently when he got out of the fence but she didn't press charges because the dog had had his shots.

The boy's family wants the dog gone.

"I'd just rather see him come around and apologize and let us know that he's really apologizing and just mean it from his heart and be sincere," Matthews said.

There was a delay in responding to this attack due to the city's furlough days.  That's why the dog was taken away Tuesday.  The family is weighing their options about pressing charges.

Baltimore City police confirm officers filed a report.  No one has been charged in the case.

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