BLACKFOOT — In what Police Chief Kurt Asmus is calling one of the worst dog attacks he’s ever seen, multiple pit bull mixes savagely mauled a woman in Blackfoot on Monday evening.

The attack occurred around 7:25 p.m. in a residential neighborhood on North University Avenue and resulted in the woman being severely injured and her dog being killed by the attacking canines. The woman, whose name has not been released, suffered multiple dog bites to her face and other areas.

The incident began to unfold when the woman heard a commotion coming from her fenced yard and exited her residence to find out what was going on, police said. She immediately saw her dog being fatally attacked by three pit bull mixes.

When she entered the fray to save her dog, the attacking canines turned on her.

Harmony Jones, who lives in the neighborhood, ran out of her house to investigate after hearing the woman screaming for the dogs to stop biting her. Jones saw the three pit bull mixes on top of the woman inside the fenced yard. The woman was crying for someone to call the police.

Jones also spotted the woman’s small dog dead on the ground.

“Her little dog’s body was in the yard and it was pretty tore up,” Jones said.

Jones did not enter the woman’s yard but dialed 911 to report the incident and then called the attacking canines over to the side of the fence. The dogs complied, leaving the woman face down on the ground, bleeding from multiple bite wounds including at least one bite to the face.

When police arrived one of the pit bull mixes stood between the responding officers and the badly bitten woman. Police shot and killed this dog so they could reach the woman and start administering first aid.

“The dog that got shot was standing between this woman’s body and the fence so the police had no choice but to shoot him to get in there and help this woman,” Jones said.

The two other pit bull mixes fled after police killed the dog.

An ambulance responded to the scene and the victim was transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, where she was listed in good condition on Tuesday.

The owner of the pit bull mixes turned the two surviving dogs over to the police following the incident. Police have not said what will happen to the two dogs but often canines that attack people are euthanized.

It’s unclear how the attacking canines were able to gain access to the victim’s fenced yard.

The attack remains under investigation by Blackfoot police.