Posted on 08/26/2008 5:43:18 AM PDT by engrpat
A North Texas family is mourning the loss of two of their pets. The nine-month-old pit bulls were shot and killed by a neighbor who says it was self defense.
The shooting happened in a neighborhood off Ten Mile Bridge Road in northwest Fort Worth.
The neighbors never had any problems before. But that all changed over the weekend.
The man who pulled the trigger says he didn't have any choice. But the dogs' owners disagree.
Kristopher Harrison has a six-year-old daughter. He says that's why he was upset when two pit bulls wandered into his backyard Saturday afternoon.
Harrison says he told his next door neighbors, if it happened again, he would shoot the dogs. And that's exactly what he did around 4 a.m. Sunday morning.
Harrison says he and a friend were taking a break from watching the Olympics when the nine-month-old dog named 'Scarface' crawled under the fence. Harrison had his shotgun with him, so he says he shot the dog and the dog's sister, 'Lady'.
"I wish he just would have went in the house and would have came and told me instead of retaliating that way," dog owner Shaylen Ross said.
One of the animals was found dead in Harrison's backyard. The other was found dead in its own backyard.
"He was showing his teeth, growling and he was coming at me," Harrison explained. "The second dog, I didn't know. I didn't think I was going to have to shoot him, because he seemed a little hesitant. But then he looked at the hole in the fence. I thought he was going to go back under, then he turned around and started coming at me and that's when I shot him."
Fort Worth Police are reviewing the case, but they say if the dogs were in the neighbor's yard when they were shot it's unlikely that any charges will be filed.
I was in my garage one sunday morning, having a smoke and tinkering with the weed wacker, when i heard a low growl behind me....the neighbors “friendly” black lab was there, crouched down on it’s front paws, barring it’s teeth and growling at me....i hit it with a shovel, and told the neighbors...they gave me the typical “my dog would not hurt anyone” speech....if you cannot control your animal you have no right to own it, and a dog digging under your fence should be dealt with by shovel, bat or gun.....and sue the owner for damages and mental anguish over having to shoot the animal...
“...on the receiving end of some bullets....”
Dead dogs equal dead neighbors? Good luck with that one!
That was my thought. Clean shot for the dog on his property, not clean on the one still in the neighbor’s yard.
Sure, if the dog’s robbing you or keying your car or mauling your 6-year old.
Otherwise, it’s just a dog roaming around, rather like most animals do. Then, if you blast it, you’re just an overreactive type with an itchy trigger finger. That’s far more dangerous than an errant dog.
Yeah, the family - asleep in their beds at 4 a.m. - was threatened by a dog crawling under a hole in the fence. If he was so worried, why didn’t he fill in the hole? Because that’s not nearly as dramatic and macho as killing an animal.
This dude’s story is lame. Especially galling is him shooting the second dog in its own yard.
“Oh my, the dog glanced at the hole!”
Yeah, perhaps looking at its sister the jerk just wasted.
I had a shepard mix once that was an escape artist and must have been kin to bill clinton. He could smell a bitch in heat a mile away. One day the deputy came by and warned me that a neighbor had told him he would shoot the dog if found in his yard again. I explained I understood and would try harder to keep the animal confined, but, as I say, he was an escape artist and the neighbor held true to his word, I had no ill feeling about that whatsoever.
Oh, don't like my logic? If this jerk is supposedly fearing for his life over a dog crawling through a hole, then I'm MUCH, MUCH more likely to convince a judge/jury I was in fear for my life after the SOB wasted not one, but TWO of my pets - one of which was in my yard.
You were onto something when you grabbed the shovel. What’s missing is the “shoot” that comes before and the “shut up” that comes after. If I were you or this guy in Fort Worth there’d be one dead Lab or 2 dead pit bulls.
Amen to that!
I am glad I never let any of my animals out.
I have a nine-month-old pit bull, and while I find this story very tragic, I can’t blame the shooter. Largely due to the horrific behavior of certain elements in our society (one of whom is about to be nominated for the presidency), pit bulls now have a terrible reputation. When I got adopted Duke (my pit bull), I put chain locks on both my front and back gates — not to keep Duke in, but to keep the certain elements out who kidnap them and either force them to fight or use them as foils for the pit bulls they have already trained to kill.
That's not the same thing as threatening to shoot a person, you know. The owner was warned to secure his animals (which IS his responsibility) and the neighbor made his intentions clear. The dogs' owner blew off the warning and the neighbor turned out to be a man of his word.
Had my neighbor done that to my dogs, in my yard or his, he'd find himself on the receiving end of some bullets.
No pet is worth serious prison time... especially when your own negligence caused the mess to begin with. But hey, the choice is yours. Give us your prisoner number and cellblock; we'll send you a fruitcake (sans hacksaw blade, sorry) at Christmas.
Our elderly neighbor called us a few months back. She said she couldn’t come out to her car - there was a pit bull standing at her door growling at her every time she opened it. My husband took his gun up to her house -the dog charged and ... is no more.
So then it’s understood, you are OK with your dog entering someones fenced yard. So you would be okay with your neighbors mastiff coming over and threatening your children or pets?
I have the same situation and the same kind of dog. I live in a semi rural area and I take my neighbor at his word. Should he end up killing my dog I’ll be quite devastated but I wont be gunning for the guy who shoots him.
My new next door neighbors have 2 pit bulls. I cannot go into my own back yard without being snarled and barked at constantly. These dogs are vicious, mean and nasty creatures. I have a 5 ft. chain link fence between me and them. There have been signs of digging from their side. If any one or both of those dogs end up in my yard they are dead on sight.......
“I wish he just would have went in the house and would have came and told me instead of retaliating that way,”
Had I warned the owners as he had done, I’d have shot them too.
I will never ask permission to kill a dog that’s a threat to me or mine on my own property.
So then it’s understood, you would prefer to kill animals posing NO threat to you or your family rather than knock on the neighbor’s door or fill in a hole. No, that would require effort on your part, and a conscience. Better to be Wyatt Earp and brag about your brush with death.
That could rank right up there with Hillary Clinton’s sniper fire story.
Even if it’s a Beagle? Look, Pit Bulls get a bad rap because of irresponsible owners. Any dog can be trained to be vicious. Rotweilers, German Shepards, Doberman Pinchers...hell, even a Labrador Retriever can be raised not to know the difference between protection and maliciousness. With all of the previous threats he made, this should come as no surprise. He was out to get those dogs, anyway.
Good for him. I wouldn’t want pits wandering around my yard and especially wouldn’t want them if I had a small child. He gave the owner fair warning and then backed up his threat. Sounds like he made the neighborhood safer.
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