Two dogs shot to death
Lantana, FL (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Sep 24, 2006
County: Palm Beach
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Mark Neely
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Hershey and Rocky are buried beside their kennel. Their owner's next-door neighbor, Mark Neely, 47, shot the year-old pit bull terriers with a 12-gauge shotgun on the morning of Sept 24 in front of his home in the 100 block of Central Boulevard, police said.
Police charged Neely with animal cruelty. He allegedly shot Hershey, the chocolate-colored female, in the head. She died in front of Neely's home. As Rocky was running away, he was shot in the legs. He was put to sleep when his owner, Martin Roman, 42, chose not to spend $10,000 to fix the dog's shattered legs.
Along with the pit bulls, Roman moved with his wife, two children and two other dogs -- a 4-year-old Lab mix and 4-year-old Chihuahua -- from Palm Springs this month.
Roman built a chain-link kennel to keep his pit bulls in, but they escaped once and harassed Neely in his back yard, police said. The next time they got out, they were shot.
Neely called police to his home Sept. 15 when the dogs escaped and were growling in his back yard.
"It was almost shot by me," Sgt. Chris Decker said of one of the dogs. Roman "explained he was putting up a fence and it wouldn't happen again."
Decker said Rocky calmed down when Roman's son, Alex, came out and got him.
Roman said Neely threatened to kill the dog in front of Alex.
"The guy didn't have no patience and threatened them and he accomplished it," Roman said. "Those dogs were family dogs, they were family members."
Roman got the dogs from friend Chris McKenzie when they were born.
McKenzie, who still has their father, said the 50-pound pups "were just big babies."
Neely, who was released from the Palm Beach County jail on $3,000 bond, said he feared for himself and his daughter.
"I was very intimidated by those dogs," he said. "I had a vision of my daughter getting attacked on her way to school one day."
The dogs terrified the neighborhood, causing one man to carry a wrench when he walked his own dog, neighbor Louis Ortiz said.
"I tell you I wish to God I never had that situation occur," Neely said. "I'd call the cops next time and let the cops shoot the dogs."
Case UpdatesMark Neely, 47, was convicted in early April 2007 of felony animal cruelty and discharging a firearm in public. He was found not guilty of a separate count of cruelty to animals. Neely shot two pit bull terriers in front of his home on Central Boulevard with a 12-gauge shotgun in September.
Hershey, a chocolate-colored female, was shot in the head and died in front of Neely's home. Rocky was shot in the legs as he ran away. He was put to sleep when his owner, Martin Roman, chose not to spend $10,000 to fix the dog's shattered legs.
Neely previously said he feared for himself and his daughter because the dogs had escaped from their kennel before.
Neely will be sentenced April 27. He faces a maximum of six years in prison. | Source: Sun-Sentinel - April 3, 2007
Update posted on Apr 15, 2007 - 11:23PM |
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