Police Kill Innocent Pit Bull
In West Toledo, Ohio a SWAT team showed up at the home of Sean Gillespie. They were there to arrest a friend who was renting a room in his house.
When the police were entering Gillespie’s property his dog Jozie, a pit bull, ran out into the yard. The police shot the pit bull, firing five times. According to neighbors who watched the incident the pit bull was not on the attack, she was wagging her tail.
“It’s one thing that they may have to protect themselves but from what we’ve heard from the neighbors and stuff she was sitting there wagging her tail,” Gillespie said.
When Gillespie questioned police as to why Jozie was shot, he was told to get back on the sidewalk or risk arrest. According to the owners the police were even laughing after the shooting. “The one officer came in and said, ‘Yup, that’s the only good pit bull, a dead one,’” Gillespie said.
Police Chief Mike Navarre has stated the shooting will be investigated by the officers’ supervisors.
We do not have comment from the police as to their side of the story, but if this is true the officers involved need to be charged and brought to justice.
* The beauty above is Dogster member Pita. According to her owner she is part of the NPC, aka Naughty Puppy Club.
This is what would happen in Bakersfield California also. It is too bad people have such a bad opinion about pit bulls. But what do you expect? We live in a world that dosen’t care about animals ar people just the mighty dollar. Pit bulls are the best dogs in the world.
I hope the officer that shot this puppy gets his justice.Dogs are our family to.
If anyone would like contact info for the city officials to have your voice heard you can pmail me and I will be more that happy to supply you with some email addresses. http://www.dogster.com/dogs/714912
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I am the proud owner of a pit bull mix. I adopted her as a puppy, and she has been nothing but gentle and sweet since the moment I brought her home. While pitbulls are more prone to aggressiveness than other breeds, it’s nothing that love and patience cannot overcome. What we need to do is get rid of this negative stigma associated with the pitbull breed. There is an unfair prejudice against them, and unfortunately, this innocent dog had to pay the price.
Unfortunately this is happening all the time all over the country. For ’some’ reason police feel justified to shoot pitbulls if they run across them while responding to calls. I have a great deal of respect for the police but I would of have to be put in jail that night if that had been my pit bull. How pit bulls are treated compared to other breeds of dogs is totally and absolutely unfair. As a pit bull owner I have to fear that someday my community or state may pass bsl laws. Most dog owners do not fear this. So now on top of that I also have to fear that if the police needed to come into my home my best friend in this world may be killed for no other reason than the fact that he’s a pit bull. Total garbage.
I don’t know why police feel like they can do whatever they want. I’ve always had issues about how our law enforcement works. I don’t have any pits but this is disgusting. Its ok for police to shoot anything to “protect their lives” but if the ordinary citizen shot at a person that broke into their home, they will get charged because that person was unarmed. well so was the dog, it didn’t have a gun.
That truly makes my heart “Sad”, it is so unfair that just because she was a pit-bull they brutally shot her, this has to Stop & people need to be held accountable for such Vicous actions! I wish I had the Power to do more, I pray every day for innocent animals!
Exactly why we are so glad to have moved from NW Ohio. These kinds of things happen there all the time! There is no BSL there YET, but there is a lot of the backyard BSL supporters that believe just like those cops do. Sickening. Toledo SAYS it doesn’t want to be like Detroit … then stop acting like it.
I don’t care about what other people think. I had a pit mix and she was my very best friend. If that would have been me I would have hit the cop that that had no heart. Dogs in general over the years are considered family not a piece of property. Police need to be trained in regards to entering homes with pets living there. I don’t respect cops because of their policy’s. I’m sorry it’s just how I feel.
we don’t have any BSL’s here, or at least not yet, but i had a shar pei that had to be put down last year from cancer and we now have 2 siberian huskies. its amazing how people are afraid of them (and were afraid of the shar pei.) I’ve been bitten many times by little yippy dogs (sorry for the expression.) my ‘bully’ dogs get pushed around by my cats, i still don’t know how people are afraid of them.
This story just breaks my heart. The police came to my door at 6 in the morning one day looking for a former tenant, and my pit mix ran out in the yard to bark at one of the officers. I was so afraid that they were going to hurt her, but thankfully they understood she was just scared at being woken up that early! We had a close call, I can’t imagine what I would have done if the situation had been different!
this is so heartbreaking. the police officer’s supervisors are not seriously going to investigate this. thats just a statement made so that we, the animal lovers, will be put at ease and given some hope. all they will say is that the pitbull was acting aggressively. i have had several pitbulls in my life, and i have 2 kids. i have never had an issue with them, even with my cats they are great! its sad that because of a reputation they will never overcome, they have to be such a liability. not fair.
I have a Pit Bull mix, and I love him to death. Gosh, those wimpy little officers, “Oh my gosh it’a a Pitbull.”
I would way, “Yeah a Pibtull what’s your point? People are so ignorant these days it maes me sick!
disgusting!!! hope karma bites back
I have so much respect for what cops do and are up against. BUT they need to do their homework, make sure there are no dogs around. If there are have the Animal control go in with them.
It takes a “big man” to kill a dog. I don’t get it. Yes there are people that have mean back yard dogs, but they will let you know long in advance if they are bad dogs or not. Oh and could the cops go back out the gate? I would never hit a cop, but I would hit them with a big lawsuit, and I do not believe in suing people.
Oh and I have met Pita (The picture of the pit) and she is a love! She would hurt you with the wagging of her tail. Typical pitty.
The only good pitty is a happy pitty!
I am so sorry for the owner of this poor dog. I believe these officers should be made to answer for their actions. These poor dogs has such a bad reputation instead of making sure there was a problem these macho officers took action. Make them accountable and do it now.
This story is really sad ad really scares me because I have a 6 month old pit bull. Some family members are being really ignorant and saying that shes going to be a mean dog but I do not believe that is true because she is great around kids, other dogs, and even cats. And the same people who called her mean just because shes a pit, are the ones that she goes up to and tries to love on and they are scared to death of her. I am scared that the police in our area would hurt her if they had to come to the house she stays at. I can’t see her everyday bc of my living situation but I would sure love some advice on how I can educate these ignorant people.
I hope Karma does get that officer that killed that dog. If it had been my dog something definitely would’ve happened either I would be put in jail or I would have that cops job. I would stop at nothing! Some people don’t realize that that dog was a family member and it is like someone killing one of your family members just because. It is murder! That’s all I have to say.
It IS murder! I remember a story a few months ago about a city mayor in Maryland who was falsely accused of something. The cops went SWAT on him, knocked his door down and immediately shot and killed his labs.
They deserve blood vengeance as far as I’m concerned. I’m a big supporter of the Second Amendment. Come threaten my family and see what happens.
This really bothers me. I can’t stand that police, the people that are supposed to do the right thing, go this far and then have the nerve to make jokes about it. I used to have a Pit Bull. And he was my best friend. I now have a dog that is a Brindle Pit Chow mix, and she wouldn’t hurt a fly. The neighbors Pit Bull got out today, a dog I have never been around before, but I decided to help him get back in his yard, instead of meeting his fate on the street. That dog wont bite anyone, he was licking me, and never even chased the cat in my front yard. I am so SICK of people saying that Pits are bad. Its not the breed, its the stupid people that raise them, and of all people cops should know that. UGH! I hope they get what they deserve. I agree with AngryPetOwner, blood vengeance is the only way to make sure that poor Jozie didn’t die in vain!
This past thanksgiving my husband’s uncle got choked up telling us of “the best dog ever”, a pittbull of his that got shot when the police where going to his neighbor’s house (in Amarillo, TX). This is much to common and apparantly it’s open season on the dogs if you can shoot a dog who has nothing to do with your mission. The dog was in his own yard and had nothing to do with the neighbor.
I wonder what’are they shooting at next..grandma in her porch?
This is unconscionable it has absolutely no justification other than the sadistic streak of some guy who doesn’t belong in the Force. I have nothing but admiration for law enforcement officers as they put their lives on the line to protect others BUT there are some bad apples there.
My heart goes to Jozie’s dad.
Does anyone know of anything we can do? I asked Tania for the email addresses for the mayor and police so that I could send an email. But can anyone think of something else we could do. If not, maybe could we all please request the email addresses from Tania and all write letters for what it’s worth. Maybe an online petition? I don’t know anymore. All I know is the more I think about it the more scared I get and the more I think that it really could happen to anyone of us someday…….
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR is all i can say….=((((
Your happy when you shoot a nice dog!That’s not like a cop!ridiculous!The poor pitbull!Just curious about all the comotion and she gets shot!What b*****s
With all the horrible things helpless animals go through this by far is the worst and not the last, sadly. It is completely ridiculous how these police officers acted and operated! I have trained all sorts of dogs and have had many pitbulls. They def have prolly the worst reputation out of all the dog breeds. “There is never a bad dog, only a bad owner!” Anything about how an animal behaves can be corrected through proper training and consistency, its that pple who have horrible pets let them get away with it! The fact is that because of media and pple’s REMARKS about dogs is what puts fear into others, whether its true or not! I can not stand this type of ignorance, its disguisting and PPLE LIKE THIS SHOULD BE PUT TO SLEEP! After reading this I would feel much more comfortable being around an aggressive dog than these pple here!