Raleigh, N.C. — A dog owner in Raleigh was cited after authorities say he let his three pit bulls run loose through the Southall neighborhood on Sunday, terrorizing a pack of bike-riding boys and a child's birthday party.

At least three people were injured by the dogs.

Cooper Nunnery, 12, was one of them. He said he was out for a bike ride with some neighborhood friends when the dogs came tearing down Easthampton Drive.

"I was looking down, kicking at the dog to make it get back," Nunnery said Tuesday. 

The pit bulls chased the boys, and one of the animals bit Nunnery and 10-year-old Joey Brigante.

"It started to jump up and attack me, and bit me in the leg," Nunnery said. "I threw my bike down. When I did, it kind of scared the dogs."

Neighbor Josh Thomas rushed to help the boys while the dogs took off down the street.

"I heard it first because there was a lot of screaming and a lot of dogs barking," Thomas said. "I was just tending to Joey, who was bleeding a lot." 

Further down Easthampton Drive, the pit bulls approached a child's birthday party, but a man picked up a rock to fend them off. He was also injured.

Robert Moore, Nunnery's mother's boyfriend, came home a short time after the attack. He said the dogs' owner should be held accountable.

"Cooper is very lucky, and I think something should be done about these dangerous animals," Moore said. 

Animal control officers cited Jason Tamburri with letting dogs run at large and failing to provide proof of rabies vaccine. Tamburri said the dogs escaped from his yard and that, as a parent, he is very upset about what happened to the two boys.

"I feel horrible," he said. "I was a nervous wreck, very worried about it."

He added, however, that the adults who chased the dogs made the situation worse by throwing things at them.

Tamburri said he recently moved to the neighborhood and had misplaced his veterinarian records, but he will turn proof of rabies vaccinations over to animal control.

The dog that bit the boys was taken to the Wake County Animal Shelter to be quarantined for 10 days. Tamburri said the dog has never hurt anyone before and that he will send the animal to live with his family out-of-state when it is released from quarantine.