Off-duty LAPD officer shoots pit bull after dog bites him and security guard

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (FOX 11 / CNS) - Two people were taken to hospital after a hostile pitbull attack in the heart of Hollywood Thursday afternoon.

Exclusive cell phone video obtained by FOX 11 shows a man inside Ghiradelli's holding his pitbull, screaming at security guards not to touch him.

Isabella Sermon and her family say they were the last customers in Ghiradelli's on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday when the man seen in this cell phone video came in with his dog.

"Then he went over to the other side, took the two water bottles and the family left....he went over to the cash register and taking more stuff with the dog still in his hands," said Sermon.

The family says security tried to get him to leave, but the man wouldn't listen.

"If he would have just done what security asked him, it wouldn't have escalated to what it did," said Veronica Orczykowski.

Isabella says they tried arresting the man - and that's what triggered the dog to start snapping.

"The dog didn't do anything until the guy grabbed him and put him to the floor and that's when you heard the handcuffs go on and he kept saying 'don't touch my dog' the dog is going to stay with me....that's when the dog got defensive and tried to protect his owner," said Sermon.

The family left before the situation got more tense.

"We tried to get our chocolates....they were having a sale of how much you could stuff into a tin can...but when the dog started getting really vicious and barking, we were like, 'we gotta go," said Leticia Trevino.

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