carlballou/iStock(ADAMS, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man was being attacked by two pit bulls when his neighbor grabbed a crossbow and tried to intervene, but apparently struck and killed the man instead, prosecutors said.
Investigators believe the neighbor heard a commotion Wednesday afternoon and called the Adams Police Department, officials with the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday.
The neighbor “could hear somebody screaming for help, saying, ‘please shoot the dogs,'” Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington said at a news conference Thursday.
The neighbor grabbed his crossbow and fired, striking one of the pit bulls in the scruff of the neck, Harrington said. The arrow then went through a closed door and hit the victim while he was trying to barricade himself from the dogs, Harrington said.
A child was in a nearby room at the time and was unharmed, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, the dogs kept fighting, Harrington said.
Police had received multiple 911 calls about the ongoing pit bull attack. Responding officers found the two dogs — which both had a “history of being aggressive” — “engaging in a volatile confrontation,” according to prosecutors.
The animals then “came at” the officers, Harrington said, so the police used their weapons “to neutralize” them, prosecutors said. Both dogs were killed by police, prosecutors said.
The death of the resident — identified as 27-year-old Joshua Jadusingh — appears accidental, prosecutors said.
The neighbor is cooperating with police and no charges are expected, prosecutors said.
Both dogs — adult males — lived at the victim’s home, prosecutors said.
The neighbor has a license for the crossbow, which he uses for hunting, said Harrington, who called the man a good Samaritan. He’s “very distraught” and was good friends with the victim, she added.
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