6:17 p.m.
Sitting in isolation today, surrounded by dozens of other dogs, the pit bull was as quiet as a mouse, but Tyonda Ravenell and her nephew, Roberto, know all too well his bite is much bigger than this bark.
Ravenell says she was hosting a birthday party and cookout Saturday in her backyard when three uninvited visitors -- 22 year-old Gregory Hatcher, his girlfriend and their pit bull refused to leave.
Roberto Baez says his son was the first victim.
"Next thing I know this dog was on my son's leg shaking him back and forth."
Baez says he kicked the dog several times, but it kept attacking his son.
"I thought he was honestly going to die because the way he grabbed him and was ripping and attacking him. I was fearing the worst."
Roberto says his son was strapped into a stroller during the attack and that the dog was throwing it around with his son inside.
"I don't know why the dog just attacked him. Out of the blue for no reason. The baby didn't touch the dog, nothing. The dog just came and grabbed him."
The little boy suffered a total of seven bites on his leg and hand.
Ravenell says she was the dog's next victim. "Had a real nice grip on my arms. only thing i could do was holler and scream."
Ravenell says family members eventually were able to pull the dog away, but she and the boy's parents think the dog should be put down for causing them one of the scariest days of their lives.
The pit bull will be under observation for the next 10 days, which is required by law in cases like this.
It will ultimately be up to the court to decide what happens next.
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9:58 a.m.
A four-year-old child is recovering, after Galax Police say a pit bull attacked the child and an adult at a birthday party on Saturday.
Officers say Gregory Hatcher was walking his pit bull on Webster Street, across from the Galax Police Department, when the dog began barking, and police say Webster and some adults at the birthday party "exchanged words."
Investigators believe the dog then got loose, attacked Tyonda Ravenell and then the child.
EMTs took both the child and Ravenell to Twin County Regional Hospital. EMTs then took the child to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for surgery. Police describe the child as having "severe leg injuries." Ravenell has since been treated and released.
Police charged Hatcher with two counts of assault and battery, as well as two counts of allowing an animal to attack.
The Galax Animal Control officer has put the pit bull in isolation.
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