Neighbor kills man with crossbow in attempt to save him from attack by two pit bulls

ADAMS, Mass. (WWLP) – A Massachusetts man who was being attacked by two pit bulls was accidentally killed by a neighbor who tried to help Wednesday afternoon, according to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office.

According to DA Andrea Harrington’s Office, Adams Police were called to 19 Bellevue Avenue around just after 12 p.m., for a reported mauling in progress. Officers and a K9 Unit arrived at an apartment to find two mature pit bulls, engaging in a “volatile confrontation.”

The two dogs then turned their attack onto the officers, who ended up using their department-issued weapon to kill the animals. Police then found a man with a crossbow injury, dead inside the apartment and a child in a nearby room unharmed. The man’s name has not been released.

Investigators believe the neighbor heard the commotion inside the apartment, called police and then entered the apartment in hopes of saving the man. Police say the neighbor got a crossbow and shot it at the dogs, that one arrow struck one dog, went through a door, and struck the man who was being mauled.

Police say the man was trying to barricade himself from the attack when he was struck and killed by the crossbow. The man’s death is being considered accidental and the neighbor, described by the DA’s Office as a “good Samaritan” is working with authorities.

The police-involved shooting that killed the dogs is being investigated by State Police crime scene services and forensic scientists assigned to the DA’s Office, along with Adams Animal Control, Adams Police, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.