A viewer contacted 10News on Friday afternoon after her dog was mauled that morning. The County of San Diego Animal Services confirmed that the two pit bulls in question killed a neighborhood dog in 2009. The owners of the pit bulls are now facing criminal charges, despite the dogs having been euthanized.
“[The owners] have civil responsibilities for the damage [the dogs] did,” said Lt. Dan De Souza with the Department of Animal Services. The owners are facing four misdemeanor charges, including leash law violations, and up to a $1,000 fine.
Maria McKay says the pit bulls attacked her daughter's dog Suki at about 11 a.m. Friday.
"It's very scary," McKay told 10News. "I just thought they were going to finish with her and come after me.”
The attack occurred in front of Deborah Kirby's house, where she runs a daycare. It is also across the street from an elementary school. Kirby says her kids were almost attacked two months ago.
"On the way walking home, they were like trying to attack the kids and I had to scream and told the kids to run," she said.
Nancy Marquez, who lives a couple doors down from the pit bulls' owners, knows the dogs well.
She says she watched the dogs kill her Chihuahua a couple of years ago.
"We didn't expect that a dog would come and kill our dogs in our own backyard," said Marquez.
When asked if the people who have the dogs have ever apologized, Marquez's father, Cipriano Marquez, told 10News, "No, never."
10News went to the home of the couple who owns the pit bulls. They did not want to answer questions, but when asked if the dogs got loose on Friday, the man who owns the pit bulls said, "They were locked up in the backyard." Their next door neighbor told 10News a very different story.
"They were standing on the corner, literally, on the corner this morning," the neighbor said.
"That's weird, because they told me inside just now that the dogs were locked up and they were never out this morning," said 10News reporter Preston Phillips.
The neighbor replied, "No, that's not true. At 11:20 this morning, I saw them when I was on my way to work.
The County of San Diego Department of Animal Services says within the past three years, both pit bulls have been impounded four times after being found running loose and returned to their owners every time.
(10news - May 12, 2013)
