Coyote shot after it bites 5-year-old child's leg on CSULA campus, authorities say

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.