May 15, 2013 Williamson Co Pit bull Mauls Animal Control Officer, saved by neighbor

UPDATE - Ed Barwick wants to carry a firearm.  He went before the county commissioners explaining to them that he was virtually defenseless and had it not been for the help of neighbors, he could have been killed.

Williamson co - Animal Control Officer Ed Barwick was seriously mauled by a  pit bull while responding to a call about that pit bull.

Barwick credits a neighbor who shot the attacking pit bull with saving his life.  The pit bull did not die and ran away.  Yet another neighbor shot the pit bull, killing it.  It took 8 shots to put the dog down.

Barwick has more that 20 stitches on his arm, leg and face.

The owner, LEE ANN MURRAY of Johnston City, had refused to give up the dog initially, which led to the attack.  She has vowed to get another dog.

MURRAY, who has arrests for drugs including meth, was only ticketed for a dog running at large for mauling a county official. She was later arrested on an unrelated charge.

Williamson county has a long history of serious problems with pit bulls.  In 2007, Johnston City attempted to remedy the attacks residents had been suffering by pit bulls by instituting a pit bull ban.  Ledy Vankavage, then of the ASPCA, informed the city they were prohibited from banning pit bulls by state law - A law that Vankavage herself had crafted.  In 2009, less than two years later, 3 year old Gabrial Mandrell-Sauerhage was killed by family pit bulls in the same tiny town of Johnston City.

The next year, in 2010, another Williamson county boy, Winston Bankston, was seriously mauled by pit bulls mixes.  He was air lifted to a trauma care hospital and was put in a medically induced coma.

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