Photo by afagen.

A Prince George’s County Schools bus driver is being hailed as “heroic” after he fought off an American bulldog which boarded a school bus and attacked multiple children early this morning. County police officers then shot and killed the animal after attempts to control it were unsuccessful.

According to the Post, the dog hopped onto the bus around 7:50 a.m., biting at least one student of Fort Washington Forest Elementary School before the driver intervened and police arrived. (The Gazette, meanwhile, reports that “several” students were bitten.) Three of the four students involved in the incident have reportedly been released from Southern Maryland Hospital Center.