Posted on 04/09/2006 11:34:12 AM PDT by managusta
Police marksmen called to save a two-year-old child from the jaws of a bull mastiff had to pump 17 bullets into the dog before it would die.
The animal had already been stabbed four times with a bread knife by its owner in a desperate effort to make it drop his son.
When police marksmen arrived, they initially fired a 50,000-volt Taser gun in a vain attempt to stop the frenzied attack by three-year-old family pet Mitch.
They then emptied the entire clip of a Glock 17, 9mm pistol into the dog before it finally collapsed and died.
"They fired 17 times but Mitch kept getting up and wouldn't die," said owner Michael Andrea, 30.
"Eventually he slumped on the ground and was dead. It was a nightmare."
Miraculously, his son Nicholas had to stay in hospital only overnight. The three officers were from Scotland Yard's CO19 specialist firearms squad, which killed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, by shooting him eight times at Stockwell Tube station in South London last July after mistaking him for one of the bombers who had attacked the capital the previous day.
And the attempts to kill Mitch in Woolwich, South-East London, were a far cry from the "shot of excellence" that CO19 officers are trained to use to dispatch would-be suicide bombers - a single bullet that severs the spinal cord and prevents a bomber detonating his explosives.
But a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said last night: "The officers used 17 shots because the dog stayed alive that long. They fire and then assess if the threat is still there - and this animal was still alive and they had to fire again.
"It's not something that is going to stay still the minute it is shot. No one can say what impact a bullet will have on a human or an animal - and the animal was still a threat. The officers did what they were trained to do. Unfortunately, that's what it took to kill the dog. The officers had no option." The horror began when Mitch turned on little Nicholas downstairs at the family home as his four-month-old sister Maria was sleeping upstairs.
His mother Sherry, 23, said: "The dog had him by the back of his head and wouldn't let go. He was throwing Nicholas around like a rag doll. There was blood everywhere. If Nicholas had not covered his face with his hands, he could have been scarred for life." Husband Michael said: "I kicked Mitch to get him off Nicholas. Then I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a bread knife and stabbed Mitch four times with it. The dog ran round the front and Sherry hit him with a broom."
Nicholas escaped briefly by climbing on to a car in a nearby car park. But the dog pulled him back and attacked him again, blacking his eye and biting him on his legs and body.
"By this time, a neighbour had called the police and there were 13 police cars outside," said Mr Andrea.
"The police dog-handler couldn't snare Mitch. They called a vet to give him a lethal injection but the vet didn't want to know.
"That's when the police armed response vehicle turned up. They got me to sign a statement saying I approved of them shooting Mitch."
His wife added: "This was every parent's nightmare. The dog just went crazy. We are very lucky that Nicholas is still alive." The family still have Mitch's brother Vinnie, an almost identical bull mastiff they intend to keep for the time being.
"Mitch had been a good dog but something just made him go mad," said Mr Andrea. "We were careful before but we will be even more careful now to protect the children."
The dog was probably a descendant of Cujo, IMO.
ping
I bet a rolled newspaper would have worked.
Well, the dad should have picked up something sharper than a bread knife. I mean, give me a break. You might as well use one of those plastic sporks.
Why didn't they just offer the dog a nice leg of lamb
or big juicy roast ...bet he would have dropped Junior
in a heart beat and ran off with his prize...
The dog could have easily killed the child...wonder why he
didn't...
Remy 870 12ga slug/sabot would have done it real fast. So would a .50cal HP - http://www.alexanderarms.com/siteshopper.htm?cat=2 (not BMG).
Hmmmm.... Looks like the "Good Shootn" comment isn't in the cards on this one.
Mad dogs and almost ex-englishmen. Who would keep a
bull mastiff (not less, 2 of them ) around little
kids, without being a bit nervous?
Why is it called a KILLER DOG when it didn't kill anyone?
9MM is just not big enough.
The cops should have used a 45ACP or maybe a .357
and were shocked it took so many bullets?
Yes, ma'am, there appears to be a large dog mauling your son. Will you please take the time to sign these documents before we begin dealing with the problem.
a 9 mm will put any dog down if shot between the eyes from the front or base of the skull from the back. It will kick for a while, but it will be dead. Problem with so many moderk cops is that they have never actually killed anything with a gun and don't know how.
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