| Updated: 4/27/2012 11:28 am |
Published: 4/04/2012 8:44 pm
|
A Tulsa firefighter resigned after charged were filed in a case where a neighbor is suspected of shooting and killing a family dog in front of children with a pellet gun.
Tulsa firefighter Captain Randy Shipman is charged with felony cruelty to an animal. He resigned on Friday morning, he's been with TFD for 18 years.
Jail records show he turned himself and was booked in the Tulsa County Jail around 8:00 pm, Thursday night and is free on $4,000 bond.
Police say the family's vet found five pellets lodged in the boxer's body.
"I wouldn't have a vicious dog with children especially 11 and under,” said mother Amanda Baker.
A spokesperson for TFD said Shipman has been on paid administrative leave since the incident. The Department is doing an internal investigation.
The Reeves family tells FOX23 News they don’t understand why their neighbor didn’t come over to the work out a problem with their dog.
Police said it happened on April 1st near 101st and Elm Place.
The family told police their boxer was on their property in the fenced yard when she was shot.
Four-year-old Hadley Reeves told his parents he was on the trampoline when he heard a pop sound, he didn’t see anyone hit his dog Sissy but he ran into the house with his four-year-old brother and friend.
“I heard one of those pops. Like a pellet gun,” said Hadley. "Sissy was running around then she collapsed by the stairs."
His mother said Sissy wouldn’t move.
"I picked her up and took her to the garage but she was already dead,” said Amanda Baker.
She thought it wasn’t hot enough to be heat stroke, she may have eaten something but she saw a hole in Sissy’s side.
"That's when we noticed the bullet hole. It was super tiny it was a BB gun or pellet gun,” said Baker.
The kids tried to heal Sissy by putting a rose in the hole.
"I just started flipping out,” said Hadley.
The parents said that’s when they called police; suspecting their neighbor who lived behind them shot their dog.
"He admitted that from time to time he would try and make a loud noise to get the dog stop barking. In this particular incident he advised us he shot in the general direction of the animal but was not intending to shoot the animal,” said Broken Arrow Police Major Mark Irwin.
The family showed FOX23 News markings on their pool from what they believe is the pellet gun.
FOX23 News knocked on the neighbor’s door but he wasn’t home. We left a business card with someone in the home.
Police say the neighbor has called police about Sissy in the past.
"Most of the complaints have been noise and barking but there have been issues of it being vicious. Not necessarily attacking but biting at the suspect's children,” said Major Irwin.
The family said it wants another dog, but it won’t be Sissy.
"Just really irritated. This could have been easily resolved. All he did was have to come over and talk to us,” said father Tony Reeves.
Police said it was the pellet that ultimately killed Sissy.
Police say dogs do fall under the nuisance ordinance. If a dog is continually barking between 10 pm and 7am during the week and 11 pm and 7 am during the weekend the pet’s owner could face up to a $100 fine.
However, there is no fine if Animal Control shows up and the officers determine the dog is not disturbing the peace.
Police say neighbors can also take the pet owners to court under “will file charges”.
Court records show the Reeves family filed a civil lawsuit against Shipman seeking more than $10,000 in damages because of the dog's death and damage to their property from the pellets.
