Ohio: Dog warden says pit bulls in latest attack were well-known to authorities and neighbors

I'm sure Ohio regrets getting rid of their breed specific laws banning pit bulls and trying to convince Ohioans that they're "just like every other dog"

OHIO -- After word got out that a Liberty Township man shot and killed one of his neighbor's pit bulls, because he says they were attacking his own dog, neighbors started calling 21 News saying they've also had run-ins with the dogs and believe they are dangerous.

Shadi Mohammad and his killer pit bulls

The Trumbull County Dog Warden confirms the alleged attack isn't the first time the dogs have run loose and wreaked havoc along Tibbets-Wick Road.

On Friday, 7 year-old Carter, the black Labrador allegedly pinned by Shadi Mohammad's two dogs the day before, appeared happy to be home although he was bandaged and stapled after a visit to the vet.

"I'm just glad he is going to keep breathing. That's a big relief," said Samuel McGee.

 

 

Neighbors claim their animals have also been attacked by Mohammad's dogs.

Brian Koper is one of those neighbors. A 2013 police report says Koper "observed a dog matching, what turned out to be Mohammad's dog in the yard" where several chickens had been killed.

"How many more incidents are going  to occur before these animals are... something is done?" said Koper.

 

The Trumbull County Dog Warden says it goes beyond killing chickens to killing other dogs.

She tells me she is certain it's also Mohammad's dogs who were responsible for killing Rascal, a two-year old mixed-breed.

But, she says the dogs were never deemed dangerous.

"There were two factors kind of at the same time. The law (dangerous dog law) was very, very new - actually had been enacted that month - and the fact that no one had actually witnessed the dogs killing that dog. It was at night and the visual the owners had was they thought it was those dogs and then during the day they realized it was the two dogs," said Executive Director of the Trumbull County Dog Warden Gwen Logan.

 

Logan says she absolutely believes the surviving dog should be deemed dangerous this time, especially since the latest attack was witnessed.

"The fact that they are pit bulls does not make them dangerous, the fact that they are two dogs packing together and they are a bit on a rampage when they get out they are going after other animals and it's just a question of time for them to kill yet another dog or another animals in the neighborhood," said Logan.

21 News stopped by Mohammad's just as he was bringing home Taz from the vet. Taz is the one of the dogs allegedly responsible for the attacks, and the only one of the two that survived being shot on Thursday.

Mohammad didn't want to comment on camera but tells us he knows his dogs aren't dangerous and points out there is no conclusive evidence proving it was his dogs in 2013.

Liberty Police are still determining if any citations or charges will be pressed.

(WFMJ - April 15, 2016)