The incident happened just before 7:00 a.m. Saturday at a home on East Oxford Street in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia.
Killed was 37-year-old Christine Staab, who perished after being mauled by a family pit bull.
Her stepfather, Thomas Fowler, said his wife was trying to take the keys to their home away from Staab. Fowler says Staab lives at the home when she wasn't in drug rehab or jail.
Fowler says the pit bull that attacked, named Jade, was doing what comes naturally to a dog; she was protecting his wife.
Fowler's wife frantically called 911 for help because Jade had locked her powerful jaws around Christine's neck.
"The dog reacted to it and, unfortunately, it ended the way it did," Fowler said.
Fowler says the family owns six pit bulls, all of whom he says were friendly, nonaggressive pets.
Police shot two, Jade and Jade's offspring, when police arrived at the scene.
"She wasn't a bad person, she was just messed up and we tried helping her," Fowler said.
Four other pit bulls are in SPCA custody and the family hopes to have them returned.
