Yep, I suppose the dog was just hungry and therefore decided to eat some people.
Entirely predictable.
You're probably closer than you realize. The dog probably was working on instinctual drives...probably not hunger, but territoriality. And you've reinforced my point, that an educated, competent dog handler would most likely have been able to predict the dogs behavior and take adequate measures to prevent the outcome.
It's actually pretty biblical, what with God giving man domain over the beasts and all that, but I guess somebody like you who doesn't believe in the responsibility and consequence of individual human behavior doesn't subscribe to that sort of silly outmoded thinking anyways.