Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Armed Neighbors End Dog Attacks
http://carrollwood.tbo.com/carrollwood/MGAIHP0ZMBD.html ^ | 2/1/2003 | SEAN C. LEDIG

Posted on 03/05/2003 5:21:18 AM PST by 2nd_Amendment_Defender

TAMPA - Teresa Castellano knows that some folks saved her life. She just doesn't know who they are. Castellano, 25, her daughter, Alysa McBride, 6, and her daughter's friend, Kaitlyn Green, 8, survived a recent attack from two Rottweilers and a pit bull.

It is an amazing story of horror and heroism.

Castellano said it began while she was watching the girls at Kaitlyn's home on Jan. 18. Kaitlyn's father, Sean Green, had stepped out for 10 minutes to run an errand.

Castellano, of Land O' Lakes, said she and the girls laughed at something on television, and that apparently sparked the dogs to start barking and growling. She soon realized the dogs were not playing, and she sensed it might get worse.

She asked the girls to quiet down so the dogs would relax.

It never happened.

The dogs attacked.

``When [the Rottweilers] saw the fear, one of them started biting Kaitlyn,'' Castellano said. ``I told them to stop screaming because they were making the dogs upset.''

Castellano said she laid on the girls to try and protect them from the dogs. She then tried to block the dogs to give the girls a chance to escape to a bedroom.

Nothing was working. The Rottweilers were going wild.

So Castellano and the girls bolted outside the house at 8126 Bay Drive. The girls ran to safety in a neighbor's house while Castellano distracted the dogs. The pit bull, Petey, joined in the attack.

The commotion outside attracted the attention of neighbors and a motorist passing by.

John M. Anderson and his wife were in their car and leaving a friend's house nearby when they passed by and saw three dogs attacking Castellano, according to a Hillsborough County sheriff's report. Anderson drove into the driveway and began blasting the horn and yelling out the window, trying to scare the dogs and allow Castellano to get into the car.

It seemed to work. The dogs stopped biting Castellano, but she couldn't make it to his car.

Anderson, 22, was about to get out of his car when he looked over his shoulder and saw a man toting a pistol. He kept honking his horn and sped away to get his friend, Justin Turner, who lived nearby.

The man with gun was Winston H. Harr, a next-door neighbor. He had heard screaming outside and grabbed his Kimber .45-caliber pistol. His wife, Deborah, came, too.

Harr said he saw Anderson's car moving back and forth in the driveway, and three dogs attacking a woman. Harr fired three shots into the ground to try and scare the dogs. They screamed at the dogs, but it didn't seem to matter. Deborah Harr called the dogs by name, and they stopped momentarily.

Then, without warning, the dogs charged at Harr. The pit bull bit him on the leg before Harr trained his pistol and fired, hitting the dog in the head. He also fired at one of the Rottweilers, and it fell to the ground.

Harr, a librarian's assistant at Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library near Carrollwood, said he fired the rest of his bullets at the third dog, and it seemed to back away. He bolted for his house for more ammunition and a flashlight.

Turner, who had heard the screams and was told by Anderson of the attacking dogs, grabbed his Glock .40-caliber pistol and ran to the scene. He was told there were three dogs, and only one was dead.

Turner, 33, told deputies he positioned himself between the wounded Castellano and the Rottweilers. When one of the dogs made a move toward him, he fired. Deputies believe it was his bullet that wounded the dog.

At that point, both Rottweilers retreated into the house.

Also arriving at the scene was neighbor George Lease, a Tampa police detective. Carrying his 9mm pistol, he found Harr and Turner at the house with their guns.

While Deborah Harr and Anderson comforted Castellano, the three armed neighbors searched the house and found the dogs, one wounded and on a couch and other other laying on the living room floor.

The wounded Rottweiler was euthanized later that night at Florida Veterinary Specialists, said Dennis McCullough, an investigator for Hillsborough County Animal Services.

The other Rottweiler was placed under quarantine at Animal Services until Wednesday, when it was euthanized.

Alysa was released from St. Joseph's Hospital on Jan. 26; Castellano remained hospitalized this week due to infections from the bites. Both mother and daughter needed more than 100 stitches each to close the wounds on their bodies.

Kaitlyn's injuries required 20 stitches, said her mother, Jennifer Harvey of Town 'N Country.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said no one will be charged in the incident.

For Castellano, she said she doesn't know who fired the shots that spared her from the dogs.

``I thank them with all my heart. They saved my life.''


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Free Republic; Miscellaneous; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: banglist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-150 next last
This is why I would prefer a firearm over a dog to protect me. Thank goodness an armed citizen came to the rescue.

The good old .45 ACP is a very effective handgun round.

1 posted on 03/05/2003 5:21:18 AM PST by 2nd_Amendment_Defender
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: *bang_list
To the Bang List!
2 posted on 03/05/2003 5:21:59 AM PST by 2nd_Amendment_Defender
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
People are stupid about dogs. Unlike most dogs, Rotts and Pit Bulls have to be trained NOT to attack. Their natural instinct is to attack.
3 posted on 03/05/2003 5:26:00 AM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: g'nad
ping!
4 posted on 03/05/2003 5:26:20 AM PST by Lil'freeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
Thank God these people got involved!!
5 posted on 03/05/2003 5:29:48 AM PST by netmilsmom (Bush/Rice 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
I expect the PETAphiles and the Anti-Gun loony's will file lawsuits in favor of the Dogs rights.
6 posted on 03/05/2003 5:30:58 AM PST by theDentist (So..... This is Virginia..... where are all the virgins?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
This is why I would prefer a firearm over a dog to protect me.

I wouldn't give up either my son's dog (a good even-tempered mutt who thinks he's a 45 lb. lap dog) or my weapons. With the dog there, my house is protected 24 hours a day whether I'm there or not. More importantly he serves as an early warning system at night when my family is asleep and very vunerable.

I'm not a breed bigot but stories like this cause me to think hard. (Perhaps I'm an over-bred bigot. ?)

7 posted on 03/05/2003 5:37:27 AM PST by LTCJ (If I need extra security, I'll let my parrot out of his cage. God help the buglar that crosses HIM.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
These dogs are dangerous.

Time for an anti-freeze party.

Also, Happiness IS a warm gun.....yes it is.
8 posted on 03/05/2003 5:39:05 AM PST by xzins (Babylon, you have been weighed in the balance and been found wanting!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
That's a great neighborhood! Three armed people arrive when trouble hits! And it says something about Rottweilers that it takes 3 people with guns to beat off an attack by 3 dogs.

I know this sort of breed has boosters on FR, but personally, I don't like the idea of a powerful breed of dog which occasionally goes crazy. Sometimes, it's the fault of the owner who abuses or deliberately trains the dog for fighting. And sometimes, it's just a family pet. THAT's the scary part.

9 posted on 03/05/2003 5:41:42 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LTCJ
I'm not a breed bigot but stories like this cause me to think hard.

I am most definitely a breed bigot when it comes to pit bulls, most rotties, and most dobermans.

10 posted on 03/05/2003 5:43:00 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Ignore Alien Orders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Hemingway's Ghost
I am most definitely a breed bigot when it comes to pit bulls, most rotties, and most dobermans.

OK. I lied. I am, too, when it comes to my kids.

11 posted on 03/05/2003 5:47:31 AM PST by LTCJ (If I need extra security, I'll let my parrot out of his cage. God help the buglar that crosses HIM.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
The guy should have never left the house with people who were not in the dogs' "pack" in the house.

Lesson for the neighbor with the Kimber: always have an extra mag or two or three.
13 posted on 03/05/2003 5:57:24 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vic3O3; cavtrooper21
"Kimber .45-caliber pistol"

Kimber 45 bump! My wife is eyeballing the Ultra CDP II for when we can legally carry.

Semper Fi

14 posted on 03/05/2003 6:00:32 AM PST by dd5339 (Lookout Texas here we come!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants
The guy should have never left the house with people who were not in the dogs' "pack" in the house.

I was thinking the same thing. I believe that the kids screaming worsened the situation. I know too many parents who let their kids run around shrieking at the tops of their lungs. I was a kid, and I know kids play and have fun, but there was a certain type of screaming I was taught from an early age was inapropriate, and one only did if they were in serious trouble/pain/danger. I'd bet the dogs reacted to high-pitched shrieking/squealing that is typical of kids of those ages. It hurts my head, so Im sure it bothered the dog. Not that I wouldn't have shot the dogs either, but people have to be smart around dogs - that is both the owner and house guests.

15 posted on 03/05/2003 6:07:33 AM PST by FreeTally
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy
"Unlike most dogs, Rotts and Pit Bulls have to be trained NOT to attack. Their natural instinct is to attack."

"That statement is about as intelligent as saying all blacks are lazy. I have a German Shepard and a Rot. My Rot is now and has always been the sweetest dog I have ever had. She has never attacked anything larger than the errant mouse that wanders through the house. Dogs are a reflection of the people who own them. They are like kids, you raise them to be violent, and that is what they will be. So please don't disparage a good breed simply because some moron did not properly raise his dogs, or trained them to be mean.

16 posted on 03/05/2003 6:10:50 AM PST by DaiHuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DaiHuy
I'm sure the dogs were really sweet too. Until they turned on the children.
17 posted on 03/05/2003 6:12:07 AM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: 2nd_Amendment_Defender
Dogs of Peace Ping
18 posted on 03/05/2003 6:12:18 AM PST by muleskinner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants
Yup, the instinct was to attack when the pack was threatened by the outsider. But you'll notice they attacked the kids.
19 posted on 03/05/2003 6:15:14 AM PST by AppyPappy (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: xzins
And a COLD puppy?

When I lived in the Phillipines, I would say, happiness is a warm puppy, dog adobo, yum yum (not quite.)

Oh, Oh, my dogs are staring at me. Hope they didn't understand. Oops.
20 posted on 03/05/2003 6:16:43 AM PST by 8mmMauser (Dominus vobiscum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-150 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson