Halloween decorations were still up at most of the homes on Asbury Avenue. And 10-year-old Gregg Jones, a fourth-grader, headed up the street to the split-level home his mom rents.

"Pepper" was licensed in June in Aurora. It was fixed, had all of its papers and had an identifying microchip embedded under his skin. The other two dogs weren't licensed or fixed, and the female dog was in heat.

Inside the home, there were two pit bull puppies, a six-month-old female named "Princess" and an eight-month-old female pit bull-chow mix named "Attila."

It was just after 3 o'clock when Latisha Millard, 22, laid down on her mother's bed for a quick nap when she heard a boy yelling, "Ow. Get off me. Bad dog. Bad dog."

She heard dogs growling and then she heard screams. Her 16-year-old brother, Jerome Millard, grabbed a wooden baseball bat and ran around the block, following the screams. He came upon a house with a 6-foot-tall wooden fence, and peered in. He saw a young boy who he had never seen in the neighborhood before being mauled by three dogs.

Jeff Witmer, 42, was in his home two doors down and heard what he thought was the normal after-school cadence of children playing. But then he heard Latisha Millard scream, "call 9-1-1."

Neighbors Mike Brushel, 45, and Angalique Martin, also heard the commotion and ran out of their houses. They grabbed tree branches that had been downed by a heavy snowstorm a few weeks before and began banging on the fence and yelling at the dogs.

"He was pretty bad," Millard said. "I think he was in shock. If he survives, God is with him. It's sad. These dogs were his dogs and they attacked."

Within minutes, the fire department arrived. An ambulance took Gregg to an Aurora hospital, where he was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Denver. He had severe bite wounds to his neck, arms and legs.

Students at his school on Thursday wrote Gregg and his family letters, according to an Aurora Public School spokeswoman. Counselors were at the school, and the principal sent home a letter to parents, telling them about the attack.

However, next-door neighbors Jeff and Kathy Anderson say the dogs have been a nuisance, breaking down their back yard fence and even once running into their house to chase their children.

Other neighbors say the dogs have been a neighborhood problem and they had been waiting in hopes that the Aurora City Council would pass a pit bull ban. The council did, on Oct. 24, banning all new pit bulls to the city and imposing strict new regulations on existing pit bulls. Owners would be required to get an annual $200 pit bull license, have at least $100,000 in insurance and an enclosed cage for the dogs when they are outside.

The new pit bull ordinance will begin being enforced in February. Owners have until the end of the year to get their dogs licensed and their homes safeguarded.

This is cache, read story here