Posted on 11/22/2012 4:50:18 AM PST by marktwain
GULF COVE, Fla. - A man out on a walk Tuesday morning came face to face with two charging dogs in Gulf Coast. He shot and killed one of the dogs.
A witness told deputies he saw the entire incident in the area of Gillot Boulevard and Holton Terrace.
Deputies met with Frank Gross, 63, who lives several blocks away on Flemming Street. He advised he was out for his usual five-mile walk along the same route he takes every day. He said two large Boxer dogs were let out of the home at 5403 Holton Terrace and were not on leashes. Gross said he was across the street and the two dogs came charging towards him. He said he yelled for the dogs to get back, but they kept coming. Fearing for his safety, Gross told deputies he reached into his fanny pack and withdrew a .22 caliber pistol and fired one shot killing one of the dogs; the second dog fled.
What do you mean by aggressive? Boxers love to play and they play by “boxing”. Do they bite people?
Being confronted close-up by an aggressive dog is a very exciting experience.
Wild-eyed, snapping and growling, not backing away, and moving with lightning agility, a savage dog will get your heart rate up in seconds.
The last time it happened to me, I was wishing I had my .38 Special.
And of course your question isn't appropriate.
In other words yes the dogs had charged him but they stopped when they got close to him. That's when he shot him, I'll bet, when they had stopped short of him as most dogs do.
Can you imagine kids playing outside as some guy reaches in his pack, pulls a gun out and then shoots at a moving dog??? Would you want such a person walking through your neighborhood??
These dogs or others in the neighborhood had probably charged him before interrupting his sacred walk but never injuring him. So he just wanted to teach them and their owner a lesson.
He will probably be personna non-grata now as people in the neighborhood when they see him coming will rush to bring their children and dogs inside for fear that he will reach into his fanny pack again if a dog comes up to him.
Well it's possible he was gunning for humanoids and it's possible so do you.
I report others can decide.
Unbelievable.
I have found that owners of large, aggressive dogs are often arrogant and entitled. We had a neighbor across the street and one house over who did not care if his dogs got out. I had the dog attack me when I went out to get our mail and run after my toddler in our own front yard. Fortunately, my children were not hurt.
I confronted the owner several times as well as his teenaged son who did not care whether the gate was closed when he left in the morning. They asked what we were doing to antagonize the dogs, what my child did to aggravate it, etc.
The problem was solved when I showed up when all family members were present. I informed the whole family (parents and teenagers) that their dog had gotten out, come to my home and tried to bite my child on my property. The next time I saw it outside their yard and not on a leash, I would shoot it, because it would promptly cross the street and try to attack us as being on “its” property.
The son tried to say it just got out and sniffed around. I explained to the parents it had come into my yard twice, nearly bit my toddler twice, on my yard, after seeing us from its front yard and running over. Then I reiterated, the next time it is outside of your yard and not on a leash, I will shoot it in defense of my family. They tried to argue. “I’m willing to kill an animal to protect my young child. If you do not like that, that is the fault of your child for failing to control the animal. And after I shoot it, I will call the police to say your negligence threatened the life of MY children.” The son asked what I’d do if there was a person just showed up in my home. I said I’d shoot a human intruder in defense of my family even faster, but was giving them one last chance to control the animal. Then I left.
The next day, there were boards up on the holes and gates of the fence. The son now only parked in the driveway, not in the garage where he had to open the driveway gate and the dog would wander out. After the absolute threat of killing the animal, after explaining our clear and present danger, they were willing to fix the problem.
Talking to the teenager, the mother separately and the father politely did no good. They said I exaggerated, heard each other’s minimization of my statements or criticized me for letting my child in the front yard (though I was right there with them).
Only the threat of a dead animal and police intervention (after dead animal) was enough to provoke action.
Same here. When I moved into my present neighborhood, my wife and I decided to take a walk around the block, several snarling dogs surrounded us in the street, we were immobilized. A woman came out of her house and called them off.
I told her that we had just moved into the area and that any time she saw me in the future, be assured, that I would be armed. I made an enemy that day but the dogs never came out again.
This is Illinois and all she had to do would be to call the cops the next time and if I had a gun on me, I would go to jail. I carried an aluminum base ball bat with me instead - better than nothing.
I had a similar problem with an ex neighbor who had several pitts they kept trying to jump my fence or break it down by throwing themselves at it to get to my dog. I had asked several times for him to control his dogs to no avail. I finally informed him if they got in my yard and killed my dog I would be coming after him as it was his responsibility to control the dogs and the dogs didnt didnt know better but he did...he chained them up and moved shortly thereafter....
I guess “cleaning” my shotgun in the yard when he was outside and target practice with plastic primer powered blanks in my pistol caught his attention....the sound of a shotgun slide being racked seems to have universal understanding that crosses all language, cultural and stupidity barriers...
People here in Florida often jog while armed for protection. You didn't get my post at all, you humorless boob who rarely posts on FR.
When you have something comparable to my 14 years on FR as a poster and Class of '98 veteran of the Clinton-years trench warfare, as "BahamaMama" (organizer of three FR fund-raising cruises), as member of the former FR Board of Directors and FAB (Forum Advisory Board), as "FRiva Diva" doing promotion for the Las Vegas FR convention, as reviver and re-organizer of my state's comatose FR chapter, etc. etc and so forth.....THEN you may be qualified to call me a "lib".
Leni
Like I said previously, I am not giving an opinion on whether or not the man was right in what he did.
Only my opinion that he set out that morning with intent.
I have had the same problems with dogs and when one of them came in my garage and attacked me, lets just say he won’t attack me any longer.
I agree with your assessment of people with aggressive dogs, since the dogs are not attacking them, they assume the dog will not attack others.
I don't think you can generalize here that the dog was necessarily not at fault.
I don't feel much, I prefer thinking, and I think you should Google "dog attack injuries", and select "images" should you want to "feel".
I'll even do it for ya Here
Then we can think about how many seconds it takes a dog to inflict these injuries.
If he is a cop, we hate him.
If he's just a gun owner, we love him.
Which is it?
had a neighbor that used to let his three dogs loose late at night. They were large and kind of scary, especially when they emerged out of the darkness all at once. Terrified my daughter one night in our front yard. The dogs mysteriously disappeared shortly after that.
“I don’t feel much, I prefer thinking, and I think you should...”
Okay, I believe, based on the evidence, this shooting was intentional.
Sorry, btw, that you don’t have a lot of feelings. It must be a sad way to live.
I totally agree. We have this problem constantly in a "townhome" community. The yards are simply too small and the housing too close together to have roaming dogs; but in spite of the county leash law (dogs must always be on leash outside owner's property) and the preponderance of unfenced yards due to restrictive covenants, idiots let their dogs loose to menace other homeowners wishing to tend their front gardens or simply unlock their doors. Then the dog owners take huge offense if you ask them to keep their dogs on leash.
Personally, I think it's animal cruelty to keep a large dog in a townhome in the first place.
I’m curious as to your “evidence” regarding the man’s intent, since there is no mention of previous encounters with the dogs nor of any disputes or confrontation between the two men.
Re-posting from another thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2956888/posts?page=10#10
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Ah! Fun with firearms and animals.
Guess what happened to my family and I on Monday?
Well, we got a dog Saturday. 3 year old black lab female. My Wife decided to take her for a walk with my young Sons down the block. I stayed home because I was cooking. When I looked out of my front window, I saw a friggin’ HUGH white dog running loose in my yard. Knowing how dogs are when one is unleashed, and never before seeing this dog, I called my Wife to warn her and ask how far from our house they all were.
They were two houses away.
I quickly grabbed my Springfield XDm .45 and headed out the door with it behind my back just in time to try yelling the dog away and for my family to quickly get indoors. The dog started nipping at our dog and tried jumping on my nine year old Son -scaring him to tears. The, “Owner,” STILL ON HER CELL PHONE, ran over, grabbed this beast and led it away.
My Wife and I spent 30 minutes trying to calm both of our Sons down. They were scared sh!tless. My nine year old was in tears.
Fast forward three hours. Time to take our dog for potty.
I have my .45 behind my back, my Fenix 900 lumen flashlight, and my cell.
My Wife has our dog on her leash. They’re doing their thing, I’m keeping alert.
BOOM! Out of nowhere comes dogzilla!
It’s halfway across the street running at full speed.
My Wife whimpers and hides behind me.
Our dog is frozen.
I pull out my light and gun, blast the beast in the face with full daylight and scream, “STOP!!!”
It instantly stops three feet from my driveway and bolts home.
Then, I hear some guy calling out from the house across the street where that mutt was heading, “Sorry. We’re getting rid of him tomorrow.”
Gun and light in hand, I yell, “That’s TWICE!!”
I then called the local sheriff and tell them the whole story (just in case there’s any calls about some long-haired dude screaming in his driveway pointing a flashlight and pistol at an unseen beast), and tell them that it happened, and that there’s no need for an officer to come by.
Haven’t seen that dog since.
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I would NEVER want to shoot a dog. I LOVE animals.
If I had done that, it would have broken my heart.
But if it would have happened, it wouldn’t have been my fault.
That dog’s MORON owner letting it loose without a leash to roam free in the neighborhood would have been to blame.
Then why do you question this guys right to carry a firearm?
I musta missed the part where this guy entered the owners property and shot the dog.
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