(U-WIRE) GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A one-eyed, 70-pound Pit Bull attacked two college students at a University of Florida-area apartment complex on Thursday, inflicting severe wounds on its victims before Alachua County (Fla.) Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot it, police say.

UF student Ryan Tyler, 21, was in a second-floor stairwell when the dog attacked him, latching onto his arm and removing a large chunk of flesh, police say.

UF sophomore Ian Carmichael, 19, followed Tyler’s screams and then jumped onto the dog’s back to pin it down.

Nathan J. Lezwiewicz, 21, a South Florida Community College student, said he also heard screams and ran to the scene, grabbing kitchen knives from a woman in a nearby apartment. Both he and Carmichael repeatedly stabbed the dog until it released Tyler.

It then attacked Ryan Troup, 19, who had been trying to help.

Lezwiewicz said he pinned the dog and stuck a knife in its neck while twisting its collar in an attempt to choke it.

The dog released Troup, who was pulled inside the apartment of the woman who supplied the knives, Carmichael said.

ASO deputies arrived soon after and put a dogcatcher’s noose around the dog’s neck. After shooting three rounds of non-lethal “beanbags” – with no effect – they fatally shot the dog.

Tyler, listed in stable condition, and Troup were taken to Shands at UF for treatment.

ASO spokesman Stephen Maynard said that if Carmichael and Lezwiewicz hadn’t arrived to help, Tyler would have died.

“I’ve seen dog attacks before, but nothing as severe as this.”

– Andreea Fodor & James Vanlandingham