BATTLE MOUNTAIN - A Lander County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a 9-month-old pit bull mix at Borealis Park April 28 at around 6 p.m. The shooting happened in front of small children who were playing at the park.
According to Lander County Sheriff Ron Unger, the canine was charging the deputy, an account backed by an eye witness.
However, owner Jessica Gokey claims the dog - named Bella - was never vicious. She said she had Bella since the dog was a small puppy and it grew up around her 3-year-old daughter and other small children.
Gokey said she is devastated over the loss of her dog and feels the situation could have been handled differently with Bella possibly being pepper sprayed or tasered.
Many people took to Facebook,
expressing concern that children were present when the dog was shot dead. Some people said they were upset that a dog was killed
and others said they felt the situation could have been handled better. A few said they felt the killing was necessary.
Bella was just one of three dogs belonging to Gokey and her boyfriend, Jose Assumpcao, that showed up at the park after escaping from their yard. Bella was accompanied by Zoey, a 1-year-old female mixed breed, and Chuko, a 2-year-old male pit bull.
Gokey said her family had moved into their home near the park in January and had been having constant problems with the fence. They had no idea it was so deteriorated when they moved in, she said.
Each time Gokey and Assumpcao thought they had the fence fixed, it broke again and the dogs were able to escape, Gokey said, adding that she just got a job and they were saving money for a new fence. She said she did not know the fence would be so difficult to repair. She finally thought it was fixed the day the incident occurred.
She said she did not feel good about leaving her dogs chained up all day long and was worried they would get tangled. Her landlord would not allow the dogs in the house, she said.
The dogs showed up at the park that evening and were acting aggressively toward several children, Unger said. The original call came in from an off duty deputy who said the dogs had him trapped in his yard nearby on Bastian Road.
The off duty deputy was able to chase the canines away and they ran to the park. According to Unger, the off duty deputy tried to close the gate to the park but was unable to do so before they slipped inside. He hollered for the children who were playing to climb onto the playground equipment, which they did, Unger said.
When Sheriff's Deputy Stephen Priest arrived on scene, the off duty deputy hollered for him to grab a shotgun, which he did before entering the park. Zoey and Chuko ran home but Bella charged Priest, Unger said. Priest fired a shot that grazed her, knocking her down but then she got back up, running at him again at which time the deputy fired off two more shots, killing the animal.
"It took three shots to kill the dog and the dog was attacking him," Unger said. "It wouldn't give up."
The owners were arrested around 7:30 p.m. Assumpcao was arrested for having a dangerous dog running at large while Gokey was a taken into custody for that same charge plus possession of marijuana. As of April 30, the two were no longer in custody.
The dogs were not seized because they did not bite anyone, Unger said. There had been nine previous incidents involving the dogs, consisting of numerous complaints such as dogs running at large. The owners had also been cited twice in March and April for having dangerous dogs running at large.
"This is not the first encounter that law enforcement has had with these dogs," Unger said. "They are very vicious dogs. It's a shame we had to destroy one dog. By destroying the dog, we could have saved children from being injured or permanently scarred. We were very thankful and fortunate that none of the kids were injured, that they attacked the officer and not the kids. The deputy was able to protect himself."
He continued, "We don't go around looking to kill dogs but we did what we had to do last night to protect the kids and the officers."
Eye witness Brian Cahill, who can see the park from his home on Lupin Drive, said one of the dogs ran him into his house where he went and grabbed a baseball bat. By the time he came back out the dogs were at the park.
He said around five to six kids, between the approximate ages of 6 and 8, were playing at the park. Two of the kids jumped over his fence as the dogs came running up. He said the other children climbed on top of playground equipment and the dogs were circling them.
He echoed what the sheriff said, saying that once Priest showed and took out a shotgun, two of the dogs ran home while the third one, Bella, ran toward the deputy at full speed. Cahill said the deputy fired once, grazing the animal and knocking her over but then she got up and went toward the deputy again. He said Priest fired a second and third shot, killing the canine.
"I think the deputy did the right thing," Cahill said. "I probably would have done the same thing."
Cahill said he was not sure whether or not the dogs were threatening the kids but he said he would not have wanted his daughters to be in that situation.
Gokey said she came home from the grocery store to find out her dog had been shot and killed.
"I'm very upset because the dog catcher wasn't even called and they didn't even try to pepper spray her," Gokey said. "They came here to shoot our dog."
Gokey said law enforcement officers had threatened to shoot her dogs in the past.
"They shot my dog for being out of the fence pretty much, not for chasing kids," she said.
Contact Heather Hill at h.hill@winnemuccapublishing.net.
[[In-content Ad]]
