BYHALIA, Miss. — An 82-year-old woman is in the hospital after the sheriff’s department says she was assaulted by a pack of dogs.

It happened off Whippoorwill Road in Marshall County.

Those dogs now in sheriff custody.

One of the woman’s neighbors, Vickie Harris, rode in the ambulance with the victim to the hospital and said her friend has been concerned about the dogs for a while.

The image of her neighbors pain, ingrained in Vickie Harris’ mind.

“Just awful. To see her lay there and look at me and say, ‘ Vicki they got me.’”

Harris says it was around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when she got a call from her sister. She lives a few houses up the road.

“She heard her screaming and she drove down to the end of the road, and she said the dogs were just like mutilating her.”

Harris quickly went to help too.

Suffering major, horrific injuries to her scalp and neck, it was a miracle she could still speak, Harris said.

“Her left arm is…they don’t know if they’re going to be able to save it or not.”

Neighbors we talked to said the victim is well-known in the area. She’s lived here for years and is frequently seen walking along the street.

“It’s a really small community. We’re all family,” neighbor Chelsea Brock said.

The Marshall Sheriff’s Department says the dogs are now at its facility.

But it’s too late — Harris said her friend had talked about the dogs before.

“She said she would spray them with that and they would leave her alone, and someone told her to put ammonia in the bottle, but she said she didn’t want to hurt the dogs,” Harris said. “She had the bottle in her hand but she wasn’t even able to get the top off to protect herself.”

Neighbors think the dogs might’ve been responsible for other animal attacks but never had any proof.

The sheriff says his department thinks they know who the dogs belong to, but at last check no charges have been filed.