Pack of mixed pit bulls fatally mauls man from Upstate New York

An upstate New York man was mauled to death by a pack of pit bulls on Wednesday, authorities said. The attack only stopped when a police officer shot one of the mixed race people and scared the rest away.

The 10 vicious dogs attacked Schenectady resident James Provost, 59, about 6 p.m. in a backyard next to a suspected drug house where the beasts were kept, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said.

“This was a terrible attack,” Hawkins said during a locally televised news conference.

Blurry video of the attack obtained by CBS 6 shows the barking dogs lunging at the man who tried to fight them off. The animals dragged him around as he appeared to be unconscious, according to the outlet.

After the dogs had already begun attacking Provost, a police officer arrived at the scene and saw eight or nine of them surrounding the victim, police said.

The officer opened fire, shooting one of the dogs and scaring the other out-of-control animals into running away from the victim.

The owner, who lives in Cohoes, and the dogs' handler helped police bring the dogs back into the home, Hawkins said.

The fatal abuse occurred in the backyard of a home next door to the house where the dogs lived with the caretaker in Albany, Hawkins said. Police don't know how the victim ended up in that yard since he didn't live there.

“Somehow these dogs got out,” Hawkins said.

The house where the dogs were located was searched by authorities in May on suspicion of drug abuse, the top police officer said.

Five to seven dogs were also confiscated at the time for safekeeping before they were later released. It is unknown whether these dogs were involved in the fatal attack.

In all, 24 mixed-breed pit bulls, including 15 puppies, were found at the shelter Wednesday and turned over to a local humanitarian society, Hawkins said.

No charges have been filed as of Thursday, but the investigation is still in its early stages.

“We're still trying to figure out why the victim was in the back of the residence, we're still trying to figure out why the owner of the dogs kept so many dogs in that location,” Hawkins said.

The fate of the dogs will be decided by the judiciary at a later date.

“We will find out who is criminally responsible for this,” he said, promising justice for the slain man.