Off-duty federal police officer shoots dog at park
Severn, MD (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Aug 2, 2010
County: Anne Arundel

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Keith Elgin Shepherd

Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

The man responsible for watching a Siberian husky when an off-duty federal police officer fatally shot it inside a private Severn dog park earlier this month was described by a county police officer as "slow with his reactions and his answers."

The comment - which was redacted from a copy of the initial police report released Aug. 6 by the county Police Department but was visible in an unredacted copy obtained last week by The Capital - supports similar statements voiced by the federal officer shortly after the shooting.

The officer, identified in the report as Keith Elgin Shepherd, 32, of Severn, told police he tried to get Stephen Kurinij to control the husky, Bear-Bear, before firing his personal handgun in defense of Asia, his German shepherd, but that Kurinij just stood there and appeared "out of it."

Two county prosecutors plan to meet with Kurinij tomorrow or Tuesday as they work to determine if Shepherd, a sergeant with the civilian police department at Fort Myer, Va., broke any state or county laws Aug. 2 when he killed the husky inside a fenced-in portion of the Quail Run community dog park at Severn Tree Boulevard and New Disney Road.

State's Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee offered no timetable for when his office would make a final decision, only to say it would be after Assistant State's Attorneys Kimberly DiPietro and Kelly Poma met with Kurinij.

"Hopefully we will get a resolution soon," Weathersbee said Thursday. "I would have liked to have closed this case last Monday. We will do it as quickly as we can."

In addition to a 20-page police report, prosecutors are reviewing witness statements from the only three people in the park at the time of the shooting - Kurinij, Shepherd and Shepherd's wife - the initial call from Shepherd to 911, police diagrams of the scene, and "reams and reams" of case law and relevant statutes.

Weathersbee said his staff also has consulted with the Maryland Attorney General's office and the Judge Advocate General office at Fort Myer to determine if Shepherd was allowed to carry a handgun while off-duty in Maryland.

"The carrying of the handgun is a complicated issue," Weathersbee said.

The shooting

According to the initial police report, Shepherd and his wife took Asia to the park on a leash at about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 2.

When Asia entered the fenced-in area of the park, which is operated by the community, not the county, he was greeted by Bear-Bear, an off-leash Siberian husky owned by Ryan and Rachel Rettaliata of Severn.

The officer told police everything seemed fine at first, but then Bear-Bear started to jump on Asia and become aggressive. He said the dog tried to bite at Asia's neck and attempted to bite him when he put his hand down to break them up.

Shepherd said he yelled for Kurinij to control Bear-Bear, but the 23-year-old Severn resident did not react.

Fearing for the safety of himself, his wife and his dog, Shepherd said he pulled out his off-duty, personal weapon and shot Bear-Bear one time in the right rear, according to the police report.

No other people were in the park at the time of the shooting and Asia suffered no visible wounds, police said.

Kurinij told police a different story. He stressed that Bear-Bear, whom his sister had adopted from a Siberian husky rescue facility, was friendly and never had any problems at the park. He said Bear-Bear and Asia were getting along before the shooting, but that the officer's wife seemed to get scared when Asia started to pull on her leash.

"Kurinij advised that he didn't know what was going on, and next thing he knew, 'Bear' was on the ground," Cpl. Thomas Middleton wrote in his initial police report.

Bear-Bear was taken to the Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Annapolis, where he died at about 9:30 p.m. Ryan Rettaliata explained that the bullet punctured numerous organs, requiring veterinarians to euthanize the animal.

Redactions

County police on Aug. 6 released a redacted copy of Middleton's initial four-page police report, four days after the shooting, three days after detectives first closed the investigation, and two days after Col. James Teare Sr. ordered it reopened upon the urging of County Executive John R. Leopold.

The follow-up investigation, which detectives wrapped up Monday before forwarding their final report to the State's Attorney's Office for review, raised questions about Shepherd's legal authority to carry a firearm in Maryland, according to Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman.

He declined to release even a redacted copy of the supplemental reports prepared as a result of the follow-up investigation.

While most of the redactions officers made to the initial report were to conceal the identity of Shepherd and his wife, the department also redacted two comments made by Middleton and Ryan Rettaliata about Kurinij.

"I observed that Kurinij seemed slow with his reactions and his answers," Middleton wrote in the report.

The officer added that when he asked Rettaliata about his brother-in-law, Rettaliata advised: "He is very slow mentally; he has issues."

Charlotte Weinstein, an attorney representing the Rettaliatas, questioned whether her client made such a comment to Middleton. She said Kurinij has a "mild form" of Tourette's syndrome, a genetic neurological disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. But, she said, the disorder does not affect his ability to think, work or react to things.

"He does not have any mental disability whatsoever," Weinstein said.

David Putzi, an attorney representing the officer, said the observations of Middleton and Ryan Rettaliata "shed light" on what happened at the dog park and further prove his client did nothing wrong. "You have a gentleman who is incapable of taking care of the dog being the state's only witness," he said.

Mulcahy said the department blacked out the two comments in the reports released to the public in order to comply with a provision of the state's Public Information Act. He said the act "requires denial of medical or psychological information about an individual person, as well as personal information about a person with a disability."

Officer who shot dog 'very calm' on 911 call

The off-duty federal police officer who shot a Siberian husky Aug. 2 at a private dog park in Severn has told the same story from the beginning, according to a redacted recording of a 911 call obtained by The Capital.

Moments after the 6:30 p.m. shooting of Bear-Bear, which resulted in the animal's death three hours later,
Charlotte Weinstein, an attorney representing Bear-Bear's owners, Ryan and Rachel Rettaliata of Severn, said she was surprised last week when she heard the recording.

"He was very calm for someone who was just attacked by a dog," she said, casting doubt on his self-defense argument. Weinstein added that he "seemed more concerned about letting (the 911 operator) know he was an officer than anything else."

David Putzi, an attorney representing Shepherd, viewed the 911 call in a different way.

"My client acted as a professional law enforcement officer. He didn't fly off the handle. He was very methodical," he said, arguing Shepherd only shot Bear-Bear as a "last resort" to protect himself, his wife and his dog.

Near the end of the 911 call, Shepherd asked for Animal Control to quickly respond to the Quail Run community dog park.

"I got to get this guy's dog to a hospital," he said, according to the recording.

Weinstein said she appreciated the sentiment. "I'm glad that he acknowledged the severity of what he did," she said.

Putzi said the comment showed his client never wanted Bear-Bear to die.

"His only goal was to stop the animal from attacking," he said.

Case Updates

References

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