Pit Bull And Owner Shot By Police — One Survived, The Other Did Not — In Houston

Pit bulls, a breed of dog who often gets a bad rap. Story after story, they all seem to be negative. However, pit bulls seem to be increasingly dealing with a similar problem as all other canines do. In the event of man’s best friend being man’s protector, they often seem to be risking their lives when police officers show up at their owners’ homes.

The Inquisitr reported earlier this month about Fort Worth, Texas, homeless man who had his dog, Shadow, shot by police in an unusual investigation of a one-legged man, that had police officers with shotguns drawn. With excessive police force being cited as significant or growing problem, more of these issues seem to be cropping up. Case in point, a pit bull and its owner were shot by police during a dispute in Houston, Texas.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Houston police responded to a reported disturbance at a local gas station at 2:00 a.m. When police arrived, one woman was inside a car and the other was standing near an SUV — both of them were shouting at each other at the Valero gas station. The Houston police department stated that the officers were responding to an alleged assault.

The police officer on the scene stated that upon approaching the scene, a pit bull “rushed” from the direction of the SUV at the police. At this time, police officers on the scene shot in the direction of the allegedly on-coming pit bull and struck the pit and its owner. The owner sustained a leg wound that police say was not life threatening, but her pit bull did not make it.

KHOU 11 News reports that the incident all started when one of the women was allegedly refused a purchase of cigarettes at the Valero gas station. A woman who would only go by the name “Maria” was with an unidentified group of girls. Maria alleges that the pit bull’s owners, Elizabeth Pena and Melody Garcia, antagonized her.

The details were vague, but at some point they were all fighting in at the gas pumps. “True” the pit bull jumped out of the vehicle during the altercation. Roxanne Torres, Garcia’s sister, seems to imply that True got out of the car to protect its owners.

“All he did … they were beating them up. I don’t know how he got out of the car but he did. He went toward them…”

Maria alleges that True attacked her, but this evidence was not yet confirmed by police. No further information was available at this time.

[Image via Flickr/Creative Commons]