A Broward Sheriff's Office deputy shot and killed a pit bull this morning after the dog attacked a couple at their West Park Home.

"I was scared to death," said Angela Owens, 47, who was bitten on the left arm and taken to Memorial Regional Medical Center following the 9 a.m. attack. "The dog pushed me down to my knees, and was trying to grab my face and neck."

Owens, a bus driver for Miami-Dade Schools, said her husband Stephen Robinson agreed to care for the dog, called Debo, as a favor for a friend. The dog was caged in the backyard of the couple's home at 4017 SW 26th St.

Owens said her husband opened the cage door to change the dog's water when the powerful canine rushed out of the cage and grabbed her. When she broke away and ran for the house, the dog attacked Robinson, she said. "I was screaming," said Owens. "My brother called 911."

In a press release, BSO spokeswoman Dani Moschella said when deputies arrived "the dog was aggressively biting the man's arm and wouldn't release."

"In an effort to avoid further serious injury to the man, the deputy shot the dog," she said. "The dog died at the scene."

Robinson, 46, declined immediate transport to the hospital "but will likely require further medical treatment at some point today," said Moschella.

Owens said she would likely miss several days of work. "My arm felt like it was on fire," she said, describing the moments when the dog held her arm in its jaws. "It was vicious."

Mike Clary can be reached at mclary@sunsentinel.com or at 305-810-5007.