Last Wednesday, police got a domestic disturbance call at 1:17 p.m. from a home in the 3400 block of 44th Avenue Southwest. When all was said and done, two dogs were shot, one was killed, and for the second time in two weeks, a West Seattle police officer aimed his gun at a dog and fired.
According to a police report, when officers arrived they heard a woman screaming inside the house. When they entered through the unlocked front door they found two dogs atop her. The dogs had blood on their mouths, and there was more blood on the clothing and hands of the 55-year-old woman on the ground. She was able to stand up and break free of the dogs, which began to attack each other instead. Then the dogs reportedly charged at the officers, at which point one of the officers shot both dogs, killing one and injuring the other—which could later be seen leaving, with blood dripping down one leg, with an Animal Control officer.
According to police, the incident began as a fight between the woman and her 59-year-old brother. Both the brother and sister were arrested and booked; she was listed as the “primary aggressor” in the fight. Neither were hurt, which can’t be said for the dogs.
Although scanner traffic identified one as a pit bull, a follow-up report filed by Don Jordan at the Seattle Animal Shelter indicates that the injured dog was actually a bulldog mix, while the dog killed was a lab. Both were well known to Jordan.
Over a two-year span starting in 2008, the dogs were impounded a total of eight times. Their owners, who were not charged and therefore will not be identified, had multiple citations, including ones for leash-law violations and menacing.
The shooting comes two weeks after a Seattle officer shot and killed a pit bull—one of two that had reportedly been menacing a neighborhood for hours—on New Year’s Eve morning.
