Emergency workers got the call from the house in the 4000 block of Penny Tew Mill Road around 3:15 p.m. Thursday.
According to deputies, 3-year-old Will Baggett was staying with a relative, Brooke Weeks, at the home. A pit bull belonging to Weeks' boyfriend was locked in a separate room. The dog got past the woman when she opened the door and immediately attacked the child.
Deputies say the boy suffered wounds to the face, neck, and legs. Weeks struggled with the dog and got it off the child.
When deputies arrived, they saw the dog with blood on its face at the rear of the house. A deputy shot at the animal but missed, and it ran into a nearby wooded area. Deputies began patrolling the area and warning residents, but it wasn't immediately found.
Around 6:30 p.m. deputies got a tip that the dog's owner, Justin Strickland, who was not at home during the time of the attack, had located the animal.
It was quarantined at the Sampson County Animal Shelter.
Will's mother, Ginger Baggett said she got the call just 15 minutes after she dropped off Will. She said Weeks fought the pit bull, even bit him, but he wouldn't stop.
"I know he started at his face and she jumped on the dog and the dog worked it's way down my child's body. It was pitiful. He was a champ though. He didn't cry," Baggett said. "He has stitches in his head, numerous stitches in his face. It just looked like pulverized meat on the side of his face. He has stitches in his hands, both legs, his feet."
Baggett is being treated at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville, and Ginger told ABC11 he is expected to stay there at least another week.
The sheriff's office said the incident remains under investigation.
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