A Virginia family returned home last week and found a scene out of a horror movie: The walls, rugs, and furniture inside the home were covered in splattered blood.

But there was no one in the home to explain where the blood came from.

But the family in Chesterfield County, where there has reportedly been a rash of break-ins lately, quickly put together what happened, according to WRIC: An intruder had broken into the home while they were away, and the family’s German Shepherd attacked the suspect, who had fled the scene and is still in the loose.

Tristan Murrin was the first to see the grisly scene in the home.

“We noticed something when we walked in, when I walked in with my mother and there is blood spots on the ground, we looked up stairs and you see trails of blood coming from up stairs going all the way down,” Murrin told WRIC.

Murrin said that the dog had never been aggressive before, and was known to be very friendly and gentle with children. But something must have triggered the dog to believe that he needed to protect his family’s home from the alleged intruder.

“I think the dog did its job. He knew that someone was not supposed to be in my house and no one was home and he knows that he wasn’t supposed to be in there and he was doing something that he wasn’t supposed to be doing and so he knew to act upon it,” Murrin said.

The proud dog owner shared a video on Facebook of his blood-spattered home, which has since gone mega-viral, at over 17 million views.

The suspected intruder is still on the loose, and the Murrin family believes they must have suffered serious injuries in the apparent attack.

Anyone with information is urged to call CrimeStoppers at (804) 780-1000.