The same situation happened to me as well. I let my dogs outside before retiring to bed in my fenced in yard. As always, I checked to make sure the gate was closed and it was. The night became windy and blew the gate open and my two dogs got out of the yard. When I opened the door for them to come inside, about 3 minutes after I let them out, the gate was open. My dogs had run out of the yard, one of the dogs, a pit bull had attacked and killed a neighbors dog. It was horrible to say the least. Both my daughter and husband was attacked by neighbors with bats when they attempted to retrieve my dog. The very next day, BOTH dogs were put down, at the insistance of the local animal warden. Immediately after leaving my vet, I visited my neighbor and apologized (as well as cried at what happened.) I paid her vet bills within 1 hour after receiving them and paid for her family to get another dog. I was then summoned to court for animals running at large and paid the fine. This unfortunate situation cost me over $2,000. It was later discovered that UPS had put a package in my yard, something they had NEVER done before, and did not secure the gate properly.
I did get another pit bull puppy. I am now receiving letters and internet information in my mail about how vicious pit bulls are and "how could you even think about bringing another monster around here again?"BTW, both my dogs were highly socialized, people friendly and obedience trained. This whole situation was very unfortunate for all parties involved, but I am continuing to pay the price and being held back from moving on.