Officer shoots, kills lunging pit bull

A Coeur d’Alene police officer shot and killed a pit bull that lunged at him from the window of a van parked near downtown this morning. Officers had responded around 11 a.m. to reports of a suspicious van, possibly with someone watching young children, parked in a lot behind 821 Sherman Ave. As an officer approached along the driver’s side, a “vicious pit bull dog lunged out the open driver’s side window toward the officer’s face,” Sgt. Jeff Walther with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said in a news release. The officer fired one round from his service weapon as the dog lunged, striking the animal in the chest and killing it, Walther said. The officer was not injured. The van was unoccupied. Officers are working to locate the owner.