50 signatures reached
To: City of Bristol Virginia
Justice for Riley
To whom it may concern,
In the beginning of July Riley was shot in my neighborhood. It was a neighbor who shot her. The police came and opted not to press any charges against the gun wielding man. Since then, the neighborhood has been quite upset.
We are an active neighborhood with people walking, children playing, and yes, pets. What if he was aiming for the dog and missed and the bullet ricocheted and hit a child? Discharging a firearm within city limits is illegal, I don't know why in our neighborhood it would be any different, let alone the murder of a family pet without penalty.
We are very upset about the situation, and ask that you open a new investigation into this man's actions and exactly what happened.
Neighbors have him on video with a gun in front of that dog's yard weeks before anything happened. He is seen in the video taunting the dogs at their invisible fence line with his hand on his gun ready to fire. That day, he claimed self defense, that the dog was attacking him. He had a walking stick with him and when asked why he didn't hit the dog with the stick his reply was, this is a walking stick, not an attack stick. He shot Riley twice. The first shot didn't kill her only caused her to lay screaming in pain. The neighbors and Riley's owner then came outside to investigate. He shot Riley again ending ending her life. We don't know if it was in self defense. We only know two bullets were fired into a medium sized, rescued, beloved family pet! We know her history of not crossing the invisible fence line and we know of his history prodding the dog with his hand on his gun ready to shoot.
Are there not steps that the man should have taken before he shot the animal? I.e. Call animal control, speak to the owner, call the police? Unfortunately, his self defense claim cannot be disproved. There is plenty to prove that he was looking for a reason to shoot these dogs. Again we asked that this be reopened and investigated and hopefully, will end in some sort of charges, fine, penalty for this man. As of now he has shot a family pet and there has been no recourse, no punishment, nothing to suggest to him that this was not OK.
Thank you for your time,
Concerned, outraged, and disappointed citizens of Bristol, Va
In the beginning of July Riley was shot in my neighborhood. It was a neighbor who shot her. The police came and opted not to press any charges against the gun wielding man. Since then, the neighborhood has been quite upset.
We are an active neighborhood with people walking, children playing, and yes, pets. What if he was aiming for the dog and missed and the bullet ricocheted and hit a child? Discharging a firearm within city limits is illegal, I don't know why in our neighborhood it would be any different, let alone the murder of a family pet without penalty.
We are very upset about the situation, and ask that you open a new investigation into this man's actions and exactly what happened.
Neighbors have him on video with a gun in front of that dog's yard weeks before anything happened. He is seen in the video taunting the dogs at their invisible fence line with his hand on his gun ready to fire. That day, he claimed self defense, that the dog was attacking him. He had a walking stick with him and when asked why he didn't hit the dog with the stick his reply was, this is a walking stick, not an attack stick. He shot Riley twice. The first shot didn't kill her only caused her to lay screaming in pain. The neighbors and Riley's owner then came outside to investigate. He shot Riley again ending ending her life. We don't know if it was in self defense. We only know two bullets were fired into a medium sized, rescued, beloved family pet! We know her history of not crossing the invisible fence line and we know of his history prodding the dog with his hand on his gun ready to shoot.
Are there not steps that the man should have taken before he shot the animal? I.e. Call animal control, speak to the owner, call the police? Unfortunately, his self defense claim cannot be disproved. There is plenty to prove that he was looking for a reason to shoot these dogs. Again we asked that this be reopened and investigated and hopefully, will end in some sort of charges, fine, penalty for this man. As of now he has shot a family pet and there has been no recourse, no punishment, nothing to suggest to him that this was not OK.
Thank you for your time,
Concerned, outraged, and disappointed citizens of Bristol, Va
Why is this important?
Safety of our children, pets and ourselves.