Posted on 04/09/2006 11:34:12 AM PDT by managusta
Police marksmen called to save a two-year-old child from the jaws of a bull mastiff had to pump 17 bullets into the dog before it would die.
The animal had already been stabbed four times with a bread knife by its owner in a desperate effort to make it drop his son.
When police marksmen arrived, they initially fired a 50,000-volt Taser gun in a vain attempt to stop the frenzied attack by three-year-old family pet Mitch.
They then emptied the entire clip of a Glock 17, 9mm pistol into the dog before it finally collapsed and died.
"They fired 17 times but Mitch kept getting up and wouldn't die," said owner Michael Andrea, 30.
"Eventually he slumped on the ground and was dead. It was a nightmare."
Miraculously, his son Nicholas had to stay in hospital only overnight. The three officers were from Scotland Yard's CO19 specialist firearms squad, which killed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, by shooting him eight times at Stockwell Tube station in South London last July after mistaking him for one of the bombers who had attacked the capital the previous day.
And the attempts to kill Mitch in Woolwich, South-East London, were a far cry from the "shot of excellence" that CO19 officers are trained to use to dispatch would-be suicide bombers - a single bullet that severs the spinal cord and prevents a bomber detonating his explosives.
But a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said last night: "The officers used 17 shots because the dog stayed alive that long. They fire and then assess if the threat is still there - and this animal was still alive and they had to fire again.
"It's not something that is going to stay still the minute it is shot. No one can say what impact a bullet will have on a human or an animal - and the animal was still a threat. The officers did what they were trained to do. Unfortunately, that's what it took to kill the dog. The officers had no option." The horror began when Mitch turned on little Nicholas downstairs at the family home as his four-month-old sister Maria was sleeping upstairs.
His mother Sherry, 23, said: "The dog had him by the back of his head and wouldn't let go. He was throwing Nicholas around like a rag doll. There was blood everywhere. If Nicholas had not covered his face with his hands, he could have been scarred for life." Husband Michael said: "I kicked Mitch to get him off Nicholas. Then I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a bread knife and stabbed Mitch four times with it. The dog ran round the front and Sherry hit him with a broom."
Nicholas escaped briefly by climbing on to a car in a nearby car park. But the dog pulled him back and attacked him again, blacking his eye and biting him on his legs and body.
"By this time, a neighbour had called the police and there were 13 police cars outside," said Mr Andrea.
"The police dog-handler couldn't snare Mitch. They called a vet to give him a lethal injection but the vet didn't want to know.
"That's when the police armed response vehicle turned up. They got me to sign a statement saying I approved of them shooting Mitch."
His wife added: "This was every parent's nightmare. The dog just went crazy. We are very lucky that Nicholas is still alive." The family still have Mitch's brother Vinnie, an almost identical bull mastiff they intend to keep for the time being.
"Mitch had been a good dog but something just made him go mad," said Mr Andrea. "We were careful before but we will be even more careful now to protect the children."
All I can say is I'm glad the dog bit in the family. Serves them right even though the kid was'nt at fault. Wish it had bit the parents.
Mastifs are sweethearts if you raise them right.
Oh yeah they had a rack just slowly cooking on the grill at the exact moment the dog has the child.
Sure. What are the odds of it happening twice? This way Nick will still have a friend.
Perhaps, but I think the problem here is that a head shot was difficult due to the dog mauling the child. Second, I guess they were using FMJ ammunition and not HP.
This was a bull mastiff. No relation. (8^D)
I am curious why the dog lost it, though. Hopefully they will auopsy it and check for tumors, diseases, etc.
There's an adage "Use enough gun."
This was not heeded.
This might have been a better choice for a large, muscular dog:
Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 Casull
Agree there.
If you get a good shot you can kill any dog with a .22 short.
Mastiffs ARE sweethearts, agreed, they have been bred for a long time to have very gentle non-aggressive temperament toward people and other animals. Problem is, they should not be bred before their true adult temperament is known, as some can be shy or aggressive. Shy or aggressive mastiffs should NEVER be bred. And no mastiff ever needs to be trained to be protective, it's natural with them.
But this was a cross between a bulldog and a mastiff, a bullmastiff, if I read the article right.
I don't know about the temperament of bulldogs, but I didn't think it was bad....
Our mastiff came with a lifetime temperament guarantee--a sign of an excellent responsible breeder. These dogs are far too big to trust around anyone or anything if they aren't bred and raised correctly.
Sounds like one of those bad B TV movies where the villain just keeps coming back after being drown, shot, stabbed, poisoned etc.
They had them sign a statement before shooting a dog that was in the act of mauling a child RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM?
Are they insane????????????????????????????????????
I wonder how many of the 17 bullets actually hit the dog?
That was my thought exactly.
Apparently the answer to that is YES! Morons.
Some people on this forum are simply idiots.
(Robert Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra.)
or perhaps Al Bundy's socks...
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