Former Neighbor's Dog Was At Current Neighbor's House, Broke Through Fence, And Viciously Attacked My Dogs. What Do I Do Now?

Location: Massachusetts, USA

Names have been altered

My back yard abuts my neighbor Clara's back yard and we've had a good relationship for almost 15 years. Clara is the kind of person who talks to everyone and loves dogs, so neighborhood dogs can sometimes be found in her yard hanging out with her and her dog. Joey is a former neighbor who used to live next to Clara but has since moved to another local town. Sometimes Joey will drop his pit bull off at Clara's house and it gets along well with Clara and her dog. It used to see my dogs through the fence all the time before Joey moved.

I have 2 dogs, a large goldendoodle and small yorkie. I was walking them yesterday on a loop that took us in front of Clara's house, and I could see through her chainlink fence that she was outside. I and my dogs walked towards Clara to say hi as we've done hundreds of times. She said "pit bull is here" but not in a warning or nervous way, more of an FYI I thought. We were maybe 6 feet from her fence and the pit bull got under the chainlink fence and immediately grabbed my goldendoodle by the throat and wrestled her to the ground. Clara came out in a panic and was on the ground trying to rip the pitbull off my goldendoodle. Just as we got them separated, the pitbull grabbed my yorkie by the throat. I had to kick it off my dog and made haste to get away.

Clara was mortified and called Joey to come get the pit bull. Clara loves my dogs and don't think she ever thought the pit bull could get under her fence or would hurt another dog. Now she says maybe it was protecting her? My yorkie appears unhurt and has no marks, but my goldendoodle has a cut that required 2 staples on her throat. Clara dropped off a check today for the vet bill and said Joey may reach out. I don't know Joey personally just that he was among a revolving cast of characters who seem to occupy the house next to Clara.

What do I even do now? If Joey still lived next to Clara, I would have called local animal control in a heartbeat. I don't know where Joey lives now, and I don't know if Clara will provide that information. She is concerned any call to the authorities will be bad for her and I'd hate to burn bridges with Clara. She claims Joey's dog is up to date on shots. It's been just over 24 hours since the incident so I'm trying to figure out what I should do now.

Should I call my town's animal control if the dog doesn't reside in my town now? What would the impact be to Clara?

Should I get Joey's contact info and call animal control in that town? I think I know the town but not 100% sure. I don't know Joey or his last name/address. Will authorities in his town do anything?

Do I need a police report or some other documentation?

I just keep thinking what would have happened if my kid had walked up to the fence or if it took a little longer for Clara to help me separate the dogs!! Any advice is appreciated.