The elderly victim was taken to Saint Bernard Hospital. Witnesses said he suffered injuries to his hands and shoulder.
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The incident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in the 5900 block of South Marshfield Avenue.
Workers boarding up a building across the street heard the commotion and helped the man.
"I jumped in my truck and tried pushing the dogs against the fence," said Joe Drish, a supervisor with Cook County Board Up. "I realized the dogs weren't going to push off the body, so I grabbed my nail gun and proceeded to shoot the dogs with my nail gun."
Chicago police and animal control took away the pair of dogs who were in the care of Renard Thurmand, 63.
"The dog slid under the fence and attacked him," Thurmand said. "The second dog slid under the fence and helped. By the time I got there the dog was too involved and didn't want to stop."
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Some of the scene was captured on cellphone video from across the street by neighbor Shantay Crenshaw.
"It was real bad," she said of the victim's injuries. "From his arms from his neck everything was bleeding."
The dogs are expected to be euthanized.
Thurmand, who expressed sympathy for the victim, maintains he was mistreated by authorities and wants his dogs back.
"I told them that if they are going to euthanize them they was going to have to shoot me too," he said.