12-year-old attacked by pit bull in Stickney while walking home

STICKNEY, Ill. (WLS) -- A walk home turned into a frightening experience for a 12-year-old girl in the Chicago area.

She was attacked by a pit bull as she walking home in suburban Stickney on Wednesday.

Brianna Hull-Saunders was walking home with her sister from the bus stop after school when the attack happened. She had to get nine stitches after the attack.

"I'm terrified. My heart hurts for her. It's hard for a mother to talk about it," Kimberly Hull-Saunders, Brianna's mother, said.

The grade-schooler said trouble began near 40th Street and Wisconsin Avenue after they encountered a neighborhood boy and his siblings walking their family's dog.

She said it was as the boy, who they know from school, taunted them with the dog that the animal somehow broke free.

"The dog was too strong. The leash slipped out of his hand and the dog jumped at my face," Brianna said.

Brianna's 11-year-old sister, Brittany, somehow managed to fight the dog off.

"He was dangling on her, so I slapped him off. And then he was on his hind legs and then I slapped him off again and then he got off," she said.

The girl's family says she almost lost sight in her right eye and now has to have plastic surgery once her wounds heal.

"I'm very angry. This shouldn't happened to anybody," Theodore Saunders, Brianna's father, said.

It's unclear if the dog has been quarantined as police continue to investigate.

"We have some people who have said we've had issues with this dog jumping on people or nipping at people," Stickney Police Chief David Babich said.

For now, Stickney Township Animal Control has cited the owner for allowing the animal to run around loose and not having a dog license.