A Massachusetts man who was being mauled by pit bulls has died from a fatal crossbow bolt wound after his neighbour tried to use the weapon to save him.
Joshua Jadusingh, 27, died in his apartment in Adams, Mass., on Wednesday afternoon, according to Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington. The death is being investigated as an accident.
An unnamed neighbour heard Jadusingh calling for help and ran over to his apartment to check on him, according to the district attorney’s office. He showed up to find Jadusingh being attacked by two large male pit bulls.
The neighbour ran back to his home, called police, then grabbed his hunting crossbow and tried to save his friend, Harrington said at a news conference on Thursday.
“The neighbour got a crossbow and shot at the dogs,” the D.A.’s office said in its statement. “The arrow struck one of the dogs, went through a door, and then struck the individual being mauled as he was attempting to barricade himself from the attack.”
Harrington says the bolt went straight through the nape of the dog’s neck before it hit the victim.
Police showed up to stop the aggressive dogs and “used their service weapons to neutralize the animals,” the statement says. One dog was shot dead in the apartment and the other was killed as it ran down the street, Harrington said.
Officers found the victim dead from a crossbow injury inside the apartment. A young girl was also found in a nearby room. She was unharmed.
A necropsy showed the officers fired a total of five rounds into the dogs, according to Harrington.
Harrington says the early indication is that the death was accidental, and the neighbour is cooperating with authorities. She added that he owned the crossbow legally and had it licensed for hunting.
“The neighbour was reacting in a very stressful circumstance” and is “very distraught,” Harrington said.
She does not expect the neighbour to face any criminal charges.
One of the dogs belonged to the victim and the other to his girlfriend, Harrington’s office said.
Officials say both pit bulls had a history of aggression.
—With files from The Associated Press