Any enraged dog is a terrifying animal. Pits are particularly bad because they clamp on and won’t let go and also because they are extremely muscular and have very thick necks (preventing the victim from strangling them, which can be done with other dogs).
Sadly, these declining towns and cities are often full of semi-wild dogs. A lot of them are dogs dumped by drug dealers who had them for protection or by people who raised them for dog fighting, so they’re not friendly.
Dog fighting is big in Detroit.