The Antelope Valley Times

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Deputy shoots, kills Pit bull

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The deputy used his Taser to subdue the dog, but the Taser had no effect, so the deputy shot the dog three times, officials said. Photo by LUIS MEZA.

PALMDALE – A Palmdale sheriff’s deputy shot a pit bull to death that was running loose in an east Palmdale neighborhood, authorities said.

The incident happened around 6 p.m., Friday in the 3100 Block of Marbella Lane in Palmdale.

Neighborhood resident Steve Israel said his daughter went out to get the mail and then came running back inside.

“She said there was a pit bull running up and down the street, so of course I went out,” Israel said. “Here’s this chocolate brown pit bull, maybe about four or five feet in front of me, he charged me.”

The dog charged him twice before he was able to run back inside and call animal control, Israel said. When he called animal control, they informed him that his neighbors had already called, but deputies got to the scene before animal control, Israel said.

“When deputies arrived the dog attacked them,” said Sergeant Costleigh of the Operation Safe Streets Bureau.

A deputy used his Taser to subdue the dog, but the Taser had no effect, Costleigh said.

“The dog continued to charge at the deputy,” Costleigh said. “The deputy withdrew his  service revolver and fired it at the dog three times, and the dog is deceased from his gunshot wounds.”

The owner of the dog has not stepped forward, and it was unclear Friday evening whether the dog had been micro chipped. The pit bull was a female and appeared to have recently given birth or to be nursing.

Israel said he was sorry to see the dog dead.

“You feel bad for the dog, but I have kids [and] the neighborhood’s filled with kids,” he said. “Thank the good lord that nobody was bitten, but it was close.”

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

56 comments for "Deputy shoots, kills Pit bull"

  1. I would be heart broken if this happened to my dog, regardless of the breed. I’ve had “vicious” dogs and “harmless” dogs in my life and the meanest one was also the smallest, a psycho (and abused by a former owner) Pomeranian. My current dogs are a spoiled rotten Jack Russell with a mean streak and yes, a rescued PIT BULL, who’s afraid of bunnies and the mail man.
    Oh and by the way, unless the dog is kept in a locked crate or chained up (both of which I find abusive), they can get out of their yard or house. It happens to the most conscientious dog owners.
    And lastly, anyone who buys animals from a breeder should be ashamed of themselves. There are literally thousands of animals of all kinds being put to death every day because stupid people want a specific breed of cat or dog for whatever dumbass reason…it’s trendy, it’s cool, it’s gansta. Animals are not accessories, they’re sentient beings with feelings who need to be treated with respect and love.
    Yes, I’m an animal rights activist and I’m also vegan. All of animals are and always have been rescues.

    • You’re telling me you wouldn’t enjoy eating a nice thick ribeye steak, medium rare? Just once?

      • I haven’t eaten or used an animal product in over 10 years. At this point, meat would probably make me violently ill!

          • I prefer animals to most people and think it’s rude to eat my friends. Besides, there are so many substitutes that are better for you and easier on the environment that it just makes sense to me.

    • Second one from the right is a Deputy Sheriff, the ones on either side of her appear to be LA County Sheriff Explorers.

      The one on the far left is most likely a field training officer or detective. Second one from the left is a Deputy Sheriff.

      The more you know…

  3. There seems to be a lot of “hype” on both sides of the pit bull fence… There are those who spout off how vicious they are as a breed, and those who think the whole world should just love all of them regardless of their behavior.

    The fact is, this is a popular breed for people who want “bad-ass” dogs to act as an extension of their own tough-guy attitudes. So you end up with puppy mills kicking out these dogs which are incredibly strong and intimidating (to many people) in order to meet the demand of people who tend to be aggressive jerks themselves (read: gangsters and thugs). Since there are plenty of these people, there are tons of pit-bulls being bred and distributed to people who don’t bother training or even licensing their dogs. What you end up with are tons of neglected dogs which are anti-social and essentially feral.

    Pit-bulls are almost a fashion for the thugs of the world, and their crappy attitudes and lack of concern are reflected in their dogs. The only way to prevent events like this, to prevent overcrowding of pit-bulls in the shelters, and to prevent attacks would be to lay the hammer down on unlicensed breeding and puppy mills. The stigma may never go away, and realistically, there is probably no real way to stop the breeding, but we should at least seek out and penalize these breeders.

    • Can’t agree more. You don’t see any wealthy rich non thuggish people rolling around with pits with a chain leash. Too bad we can’t stop breeding ghetto people and thugs and then let the pit-bull return to the normal nice animal it actually is. Thanks thugs. Not only can we not goto an ATM at night we can’t be around pit bulls either.

  4. So easy to second guess – I don’t think deputies enjoy shooting dogs.When you own a gladiator breed, you need to check your fences and there is no need to breed these dogs unless you’re fighting them.Animal shelter is full of them.Sad for the dog that it had such irresponsible owners

  5. The point is not that this was a Pit Bull as much as it is that a Dog was out of control and a Deputy had to discharge his weapon. This is not a story about All Pit Bulls are bad, it is that this one was upset and there was a good possibility someone was going to get hurt. It would have happened to any breed that was acting like this…Taser didn’t work, get over the Pit Bull part!

  6. I hope none of you haters ever have a dog that gets out through a broken board in the fence or any of the ways dog escape from houses and owners. So many people are afraid of pitbulls. Maybe she was lost and confused and trying to find her puppies. I feel sorry for the dog and doubt that it was the last resort. It was the easy way to handle the situation. Like I said, I hope none of you ever have a dog missing and someone thinks your dog looks vicious. Except Hector, who of course is beyond reproach and his dog would NEVER get out.

    • Gladys- Gimme a break…so you see sunshine in every horrible story. If my dog (a shepherd) ever escaped, she would NEVER attack anyone because she is a nice, well behaved, tame, domesticated animal. In fact, she has escaped a couple of times and was corraled by neighbors who recoginzed her docile temper. But if a pit bull ever roamed the streets, I’d rather shoot first and ask questions about the dog’s disposition later….can’t take any chances with an ugly fighting dog like that. Sorry.

      • If only you could be well-behaved and domesticated.

        Hopefully, you’ve been fixed, at least.

        • There William goes again, supporting forced birth control, probably paid for with tax dollars.

      • German Shepherd, the one dog that I am afraid of as a breed.That’s the dog I would shoot first, ask questions later.

        • So… Shooting the dog in the story was overboard, unless it happened the breed YOU are afraid of?

          That’s not hypocritical at all.

          • Not right at all. I’m just sayin, I am more afraid of German Shepherds as a breed due to past experience with a group of them. I wouldn’t shoot a dog. I do enjoy a good rib-eye steak. I’m not a PETA member. I do respect their right to feel the way they feel and don’t critcize them or make jokes.

        • I’m afraid of liberal yip yip dogs, mostly named William. They are mostly ankle biters, noise makers and lap dogs.

          Nothing a good swift kick won’t fix.

  7. C’mon AVT….”service revolver”? Deputies have been carrying 9mm semi-autos for years.

  8. All the pits I have had were not aggressive depends how the owner treats and teaches them and ya animal control takes forever because they service the whole AV glad nobody got hurt but poor dog

    • Agree. And, it’s just a dog…nothing to get upset about, and no reason to “give it a second chance at life”. IT’S JUST A DOG!! Glad no innocent people were hurt.

      • SOOO HECTOR, when your laying there on the ground with blood coming out of your head…we’ll all say…
        just another doggish S/A…no big deal, wash his blood off the driveway, and get over it momma….

          • Soooo Sorry…..Dogs are much better than your kind….and that’s YOUR as in you and yours…

          • Sorry Heck e tor…not a peta person…but I do feel sorry for that dog, you know what I mean:) By the way, your name alone (hector) has obama all over it. I guess that’s why you keep throwing his name around. Your people l o v e s him…

          • Based upon your love of animals over people, I now understand your support of your fearless leader Obama. I hear that he enjoyed a little dog now and again too. PS- It’s “love”, not “loves”…a little remedial English 101 might help you land a job.

          • no heck e tor…for your kind, south of the boarder!!! it is loves…
            you all do l o v e s him.
            I work and pay taxes for the likes of your family on welfare, etc…. your family member needs
            to keep those knees together…we are tired of paying your way… heck e tor.

        • Hector (aka ‘innocuous’) is lecturing someone on the English language.

          That’s like Hector lecturing someone on the English language.

          • last entry…

            heck e tore…. sounds like the PS was the best you could do.
            Be a man…grow a pair..Oh! that’s right you can’t I forgot about what happened…sooo sorry:(
            No reason for me to come back here, you are boring me now, you are of no value any longer. take care it was fun…

          • I’ll consider that a win for me. That was easy. And good job on taking the safe route with “you are” instead of struggling with “your” versus “you’re”.

  10. Why did it take animal control so long to get there and do their job?! They could have safely corralled the dog before things got out of hand. Damn you animal control!!!

    Poor dog probably belonged to an irresponsible breeder. When she served her purpose, the breeder probably took the puppies and let the poor sick dog loose. This is so sickening and sad!!!!

    • I agree.. animal control should have been there to contain the dog so it could be taken to the shelter where it would be cared for and given a second chance at a better life. We have called them about a couple of dogs (pits) loose on our streets and never seen them come out. Hope they find and site the owners. This should not have happened.
      Shame on you animal control!! Next time MOVE IT when your called, so this won’t happen again.

    • I hate to sound negative but you do realize that if Animal Control had picked up this dog the end result would be the same. There are so many of this breed at the pound that the likely hood of this animal being adopted out especially if it acted aggressive are so incredibly slim. Plus, the conditions at the pound aren’t the healthiest for these animals. Not knocking them, they do the best they can with the resources they have. In regards to them not responding so fast, there is one office servicing the entire antelope valley. I think their response time is excellent considering that there are like 10 officers covering that entire area….

  11. Check out the address, deep in the Palmdale ‘Hood, figures. Sad to see a poor animal killed like this, but irresponsible owners and potentially dangerous breeds of dogs in a neighborhood with children is never going to end well.

  12. well so i can’t imagine a dog just charging. please!!! i have several pits and they are as friendly as all get out. great watch dogs and people friendly

    • Actually, the personality of the dog is highly influenced by it’s owner personality. Chances are the aggressive dog actually belonged to an aggressive person, especially since the dog did this outside of it’s yard.

    • Kudos to the well trained and humane Deputy who tried less than lethal force first and only went to lethal force when that failed.

      Not so happy with the typical lackadaisical response by Animal ‘Control,’ though. A more appropriately alacritous response by them, with their mission specific equipment, could have avoided the final coup de grace by the Deputy.