Police: 15-year-old Camden boy attacked by two dogs

Camden, NJ (WTXF) - Terrifying moments in Camden after a dog attack. FOX 29 spoke to the family who are pleading for help to find the owner of the dogs.

15-year-old Joseph Perez sat on the couch still in his hospital gown Wednesday night nursing some vicious injuries after police say he was brutally attacked by two Pit Bulls.

"I thought I was gonna die," the teenage victim told FOX 29.

The high school sophomore was on his way to school just before 7 a.m. when he heard footsteps behind him and a Pit Bull attacked him.

"I tried jumping into the neighbor's yard. I was trying to close the gate and the other dog jumped up and grabbed my arm," Perez explained.

Perez, who suffered wounds to his arms, legs and face from the attack, started screaming as the dogs refused to release him. That's when police arrived.

"He jumps out. Gets a good aim on the dog and he shoots and kills it," he said.

"A lot of stuff goes through your mind like is he okay? Is he dead? Ya know," Joseph's mother told FOX 29.

Mildred Perez heard her son's screams for help from her upstairs window. She came down in time to see police race her son to the hospital.

"When I heard him screaming and everything. It scared me. Then to find out it was two dogs that attacked him. What are you supposed to do?" she explained.

One dog was shot by police, the other taken away by animal control officers. Two others, a 51-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man were also attacked by the dogs. All three ended up in the hospital. Joseph and his mother don't know who owns the dogs.

"What if that was their child or somebody else they knew. They would want to come forward," Mildred Perez said.

She says she wants to personally thank the police officers who rescued her son from the dogs and raced him to the hospital. Police are still investigating.