Barrington Police are awaiting the results of a test to see if a dog was rabid when it allegedly attacked a family on Fairfield Road last week.

According to police, the dog escaped from its own yard and tried to get into a neighbor’s home at about 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2. 

Police said the dog — a pitbull mix — had blood on its mouth and was barking at the residents. Police said the dog eventually crashed through a glass door.

The residents retreated into a bedroom and called the police department, officials said. A short time later, officers arrived on scene and entered the home. Police said they located the dog and shot and killed it. 

Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia said the dog was acting very aggressively. 

“The dog was vicious,” he said. 

According to the dispatch report, police contacted officials from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to assist with the situation, but they said DEM does not respond to domesticated animals. 

Police also called more than a dozen animal hospitals, but none was able to do the decapitation for the rabies testing, stated the dispatch report. 

Police later transported the dog to the medical examiner’s office for storage until the testing can be done.