Police shoot pit bull in South Toledo

4/30/2008

A 1-year-old pit bull named Zeus was shot in South Toledo by a Toledo police officer yesterday as the dog charged at officers, authorities said.

The dog was taken by a deputy dog warden to a clinic, where it was euthanized, Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon said.

A 2-year-old female was taken to the pound, where "we're going to hold it until someone claims it, and that person will get cited, and we'll see what happens," Mr. Skeldon said.

Officers went to the 3800 block of Loch Lomond Avenue about 4:15 p.m. because neighbors reported that three dogs were running loose and tearing at the front screens of a house as they tried to get in, Sgt. Lee Kikolski said.

The dogs "came at the officers, charged at them," he said. "One of the officers fired a round from his shotgun and hit one of the dogs. Neighbors have been saying these dogs have been terrorizing the neighborhood for some time."

Mickey Asad, 25, who answered the door at 816 Southbriar Rd., said the dogs belonged to his brother, Omar, 20. "There is no way [Zeus] attacked in that manner," he said. A third dog was not found.

Around the corner on Loch Lomond, John Rector came home to find most of the front screens missing and the windows muddy. His wife, Andrea, was inside when the dogs came to the house, and when the officer fired his shotgun.

"She said it made her sick," her husband said. "My wife doesn't like to see anything get hurt." She was too upset to talk, he said.