Source-attributed incident record · 2026-04-07

Everett dog attack injures walker and Shih Tzu; city and police reports disagree on breed and hand bite

April 7 attack left a walker with a broken collarbone and his Shih Tzu badly injured; reports conflict over the larger dog’s breed and whether the man was bitten.

Serious injuries · hospital transportBreed: Pit bull / pit bull mixEverett, MA

Date2026-04-07 · Approximately 3:30–3:45 p.m. EDT, according to Everett Police reporting and city spokesperson

LocationFerry Street near 393 Ferry Street in Everett, Massachusetts; dispatch vicinity, not an independently confirmed exact attack point

Victim(s)One adult dog owner (P.J. Peterson), injured during the attack, and his eight-year-old Shih Tzu, Mushroom, seriously injured

Dogs involvedOne large dog belonging to a woman subsequently identified by Everett Police as Andrea Bono, 49, attacked the smaller Shih Tzu and knocked the handler to the ground. Exact pedigree unresolved; municipal spokesperson and television outlets called the dog a pit bull mix while a police account described an 11-month-old hound.

Injury severityBroken collarbone after a dog knocked the handler to the ground; reported cuts or bite to hand are disputed by a city spokesperson, who said the handler was not bitten. Treated at Massachusetts General Hospital. Separate severe dog-on-dog injuries required multiple surgeries and approximately 50 stitches.

Breed attributionPit bull / pit bull mixCONFLICTING ATTRIBUTIONS: Everett city spokesperson Kyla Galer described the attacking dog as a “Pitbull mix” to the Boston Globe (April 9), and WCVB described video of a “pit bull mix” (April 10). Everett Police, as quoted by Boston.com (April 10) and WCVB (April 9), called it an “11-month-old hound.” BiteDB uses the spokesperson/WCVB pit bull / pit bull mix grouping for provisional statistics, but the identification is disputed and neither pedigree nor a definitive official breed finding was obtained.

What the record currently shows

Incident summary

Everett police responded April 7 to a reported dog attack near 393 Ferry Street. The larger dog knocked dog walker P.J. Peterson down, causing a broken collarbone, and severely injured his Shih Tzu, Mushroom, who later required roughly 50 stitches and multiple veterinary surgeries. Peterson and some television reports describe hand bites or cuts; Everett spokesperson Kyla Galer separately told the Boston Globe he was not bitten and was injured in the fall. The dog owner left before first responders arrived. Police identified Andrea Bono, 49, from surveillance video and arrested her April 9 on unrelated outstanding warrants; animal control quarantined the attacking dog. As of April 10, Bono had not been charged in connection with this attack. Breed descriptions also conflict: an Everett city spokesperson and WCVB called the dog a pit bull mix, while police reporting called it an 11-month-old hound. The exact breed and disputed hand bite remain unverified.

Legal-status note

Everett Police reported identifying Andrea Bono, 49, from surveillance footage and arresting her April 9 on outstanding warrants in other matters. Her dog was placed in animal-control quarantine. WCVB reported April 10 that Bono had not been charged in connection with this attack. Outstanding warrants, a quarantine and media-reported allegations are not findings of liability or criminal guilt for this incident.

Media & source coverage

Video, reporting and source material

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↗Primary incident reportBoston.com — Everett woman arrested after dog attack injures pet and owner (April 10)Source-hosted reporting; no publisher imagery is copied into BiteDB.

Source provenance

Primary record used by BiteDB

Boston.com — Everett woman arrested after dog attack injures pet and owner (April 10)Local news reporting Everett Police statement and subsequent arrest; separately corroborated by Boston Globe, WCVB and WHDH · Published 2026-04-10 · Accessed 2026-10-13

Boston.com reported officers responded around 3:30 p.m. to the April 7 Ferry Street dog attack; police used surveillance to identify Andrea Bono, who was arrested on outstanding warrants. The police statement described the dog as an 11-month-old hound and said it was quarantined. Boston Globe and WCVB separately reported a pit bull mix description; WCVB documented collarbone fracture and extensive veterinary injuries.

Open original source ↗

Additional sources

The Boston Globe — Police seek pet owner after dog attack in Everett (April 9) ↗ — Everett spokesperson Kyla Galer called the dog a pit bull mix and said Peterson was not bitten but injured by a fall.

WCVB — Woman arrested in connection with dog attack faces several warrants (April 10) ↗ — WCVB calls the dog a pit bull mix and confirms no dog-attack charges as of April 10; severe injuries to Mushroom and owner’s collarbone fracture.

WCVB — Woman arrested, dog quarantined in connection with Everett attack (April 9) ↗ — Owner reports a hand bite; later police description in the same report identifies the dog as an 11-month-old hound.

WHDH 7News — Arrest made in connection with Everett dog attack (April 9) ↗ — Documents collarbone fracture and hand cuts, initial reported pit-bull identification, and arrest on unrelated warrants.

Peterson fundraiser — Help Mushroom Recover After Pitbull Attack ↗ — Explicitly dates incident April 7 and identifies the injured Shih Tzu; first-person breed identification is not independently verified.

Data-quality notes

What BiteDB does not infer

Breed is recorded only at the provenance level shown above. Missing injury details, dog history, ownership facts or circumstances remain unknown unless a reliable source establishes them. This record may be updated as police, animal-control, medical, court or follow-up reporting becomes available.