A man was arrested Sunday after police say he shot and killed two dogs, including a service dog, in southwest Miami-Dade.
The incident happened at the home of 31-year-old Jose Rocha in the 30000 block of southwest 194th Court.
According to the police report, a pit bull entered Rocha's property through an opening in the wooden fence. Rocha went into his bedroom and retrieved a semi-automatic gun. He stepped outside and fired at the pit bull, striking the pit bull on his right-side. During the course of Rocha firing at the pit bull, he shot and killed a German Shepherd on the opposite side of the fence. The German Shepherd was a service dog.
The pit bull's owner told police that after hearing multiple gunshots, she heard her dog whimpering outside of her back door. She opened the door and saw her pit bull bleeding from a gunshot wound. The owner added that the pit bull vomited on the rear patio while he was in agony.
The owner said the pit bull limped around the patio for a short while, then he collapsed to the ground and died.
When speaking with police, Rocha said he had three adult American Bulldogs inside a cage, but did not secure the gate. Rocha said that as the pit bull entered his lawn, he fired four gunshots at the pit bull because he did not want his dogs to be attacked, the report said.
"I was just shooting at the pit bull to scare him and I was only trying to get him off my property," Rocha said, according to the report.
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Rocha told police the pit bull did not have a history of becoming violent toward his dogs and no physical confrontation existed between them.
He has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill and two counts of firearm use while committing a felony. It's unknown if he's hired an attorney.
