VIDEO: Coyote creeps up behind child on CSULA campus

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Video captured by a person on campus shows a coyote following a family with two young children, getting dangerously close to one of them.

Authorities were shocked at how close the animal got to the child during the day.

It was unclear if that was the coyote that attacked the child, but authorities said they believe it was.

CSU Los Angeles police shot a coyote on campus after it bit a 5-year-old child in the leg Wednesday night, authorities said.

The incident happened around 6:45 p.m., when a little boy was on a soccer field with his family and several siblings. The coyote approached him, bit the child and then ran off. The young boy was taken to a hospital, where he is expected to be OK.

The bite was bad enough to break the skin, authorities said.

About an hour later, a woman was approached aggressively by a coyote. She screamed and nearby campus police who were responding to the little boy then followed the screams, spotted the coyote and followed it up a hill.

That's when officers opened fire. After the animal was shot, it ran off. Los Angeles police arrived at the scene and helped campus police search on the ground and in the air for the coyote.

Several students who spoke with Eyewitness News said they saw at least three coyotes around the campus. They also said they heard multiple shots fired despite authorities saying only one round was shot.

"I was walking up to my car and then I see a coyote...that was the first time I ever saw one," student Jay San Luis said.

Students say they saw signs warning of coyotes have been up for a few weeks, but didn't think much of it.

"We were never really afraid until yesterday," one student said Thursday.

Residents of the nearby University Hills neighborhood said they often see coyotes and are concerned.

"They are getting a lot of braver and bolder, so it's kind of scary," Victor Pallares.

"The truth is we have lost cats, pets to the coyotes," said Gina Palencar, another resident. "I did have a coyote walking alongside me once, and maybe nothing happened because I'm an adult."

Animal control officers set up traps around the area to capture the coyote, which is now a danger to the public.

The investigation is ongoing.