After an investigation into a shooting involving a 43-year-old resident and a loose dog, the Taylor police have determined there won’t be any charges filed against the man. Police say the man was acting in self defense when he opened fire on the dog at about 11:30 a.m. Dec. 31.
Police, and Animal Control were called to the 22000 block of Mary Street to investigate the shooting.
The man told them that he saw two dogs in his yard as he was trying to go to his car. He said he tried to backtrack into the house when one of the dogs started to charge at him. The dog was aggressive, showing its teeth and growling. When he realized he couldn’t get back to the house before the dog would be near enough to bite him, he pulled out his handgun and fired a single shot at the dog.
The gun was legally registered.
After the shooting the man called police himself to report what happened.
Officers arrived and found the man shaken and crying.
The dog’s owner arrived shortly after. Apparently, a neighbor knew the dog and its 31- year-old owner and called her to the scene. Neighbors helped the woman load the dog in her car so she could take it to a local emergency vet.
The dog lived, and was expected to make a recovery. It was scheduled for surgery to remove a damaged eye Jan. 2.
Witnesses told police that the dogs had been loose in the neighborhood for at least an hour before the shooting.
The man at a neighboring house told police that prior to the shooting, the same dogs had come to his yard barking and growling at him and his dogs, which were fenced in his yard.
That man’s wife had gone to the store, so he kept an eye on the yard to make sure everything was ok for when she got home. He did not see the actual shooting though.
According to city records, Animal Control officers had previously warned the owners of the two pit bulls in question regarding the dogs getting out of their yard on more than one occasion.
The dogs reside at a home on Brian Street.
