One charge accuses John Allen Hendley, 33, of the 14000 block of Cardinal Circle, of animal cruelty in the shooting of a dog owned by Ramiro "Remy" Orozco, 41, and his wife, Cathy, of the 14000 block of John Clark Road.
The other charge accuses Orozco of failing to keep his dog on his own property.
Both men turned themselves in on citations Monday and were released on their own recognizance pending hearings in Justice Court.
Orozco, an assistant Gulfport city prosecutor, said his dog, Zeus, a 5-year-old French bulldog, disappeared Thursday and was shot to death Friday morning. His wife had let the dog out in the backyard of their home about 10 p.m. Thursday. He said she didn't know a visitor had left their back gate unlocked.
Orozco said he and his wife went looking for Zeus but couldn't find him. He said his wife heard a gunshot Friday morning. They learned their dog had been shot once in the head in the nearby Cardinal Point subdivision.
A neighbor, who had helped separate Zeus and the Hendley family's dog when the two canines began fighting, called the Harrison County Sheriff's Office to report the shooting.
"My wife and I are broken-hearted," Orozco said. "We have no children. Zeus was our child."
They had owned Zeus about eight months. Cathy Orozco, who works for Happy Tails Animal Hospital in D'Iberville, doted on Zeus, her husband said. Zeus had just undergone surgery and was home recuperating before he disappeared.
Other side of the story
Shental Hendley said her husband was asleep Friday morning while she sat in the garage with their dog while their children walked to the school bus stop. She said their dog, an Australian shepherd, was on a leash and a stray dog came in the garage and attacked their dog.
"My dog got in front of me and the other dog grabbed on to my dog's thigh and leg," she said. "I was pinned against the wall with my dog in front of me, protecting me. I was afraid the other dog was going to attack me."
She said she closed her garage after the dogs were separated and woke her husband up. Her husband grabbed a shotgun and they walked outside, she said, and she saw the dog coming back toward them and she went inside.
"Everything happened so fast," she said. "We are sorry for the loss of their dog."
Both men face a misdemeanor charge.
Under state law, it's a felony to steal a dog but a misdemeanor to kill a dog, sheriff's Maj. Tony Sauro said.
Dates have not been set for court hearings.
(Sun Herald - August 14, 2013)
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