SAN ANTONIO -- A 10-year-old girl who was mauled by a pit bull outside her family's southeast side home died at University Hospital on Friday night, officials said.

A neighbor told KSAT 12 News that Amber Jones was taken to the hospital after being severely bitten in the neck by the pit bull.

One of the men who rescued the girl had to fight the dog to get it to let go of its grip on her, authorities said.

"(There was) a lot of blood. She was very pale blue," said Benjamin Resendez, one of the men who tried to help Jones.

Resendez and another neighbor who were passing by saw the attack and fought the dog, trying to pull Jones away from it.

"He hit him with a tool, and that's when the dog got off," Resendez said. "Then (the dog) started circling, and then we started kicking him, and then he went back into the yard. I was going to the car to get a shirt and then the dog came back out and bit her again, and me and the guy hit him again."

The pit bull bit Resendez in the leg. After the men hit the dog several times, it finally released its grip on Jones.

Police said Jones had been playing in her back yard when the dog somehow got out of its fenced yard and attacked her.

Neighbors said Jones' mother ran out of the house when she heard her daughter screaming.

"(Jones' mother) was behind her, comforting her and talking to her and holding her neck -- putting pressure on her neck," Resendez said.

Jones was then airlifted to University Hospital.

Animal care services impounded the pit bull, and along with police started an investigation.

"The animal is being held in quarantine to determine if it's rabid during the 10-day period," Resendez said.

A neighbor said that Jones was a fifth-grader at Japhet Elementary School and she was the family's only daughter.

Police were investigating how the dog got loose. Officers were told it jumped the fence.

No information was released to determine whether the dog's owners will face any charges.