Sweetheart’ dog shot dead by Dover police
Update 7:41 pm
By JAMES MERRIWEATHER
The News Journal
03/15/2006
DOVER — A 1-year-old Rottweiler named Cujo, described by those closest to him as a sweetheart, was shot dead in a Morris Estates street today by a Dover police officer.
Police reported later that Cujo was killed because of aggressive moves toward two police officers who responded to a complaint that a pit bull was running loose in the south Dover neighborhood.
But Cujo’s owners – 65-year-old Camilla Mitchell and 38-year-old Tonya Smith, who share a residence on Evergreen Drive – said the dog was gentle enough to serve as a pony of sorts for Mitchell’s 19-month-old daughter, Brooke, two days ago.
Police said Cujo and a companion, Bear, a 12-year-old Akita with an ailment that has rendered his hindquarters all but useless, both were overly aggressive toward the officers.
Cujo was killed by a single shot fired by Patrolman Michael Konnick, police said, while a second officer, Patrolman Peter Martinek, a trainee, fired two shots that missed Bear.
But one of the wayward shots pierced the back and side windows of a Chevrolet Tahoe owned by 45-year-old Lorri Martin, who lives two doors over from Mitchell and Smith. The bullet pierced a screen of Martin’s house, and she says an officer retrieved the slug from an inside window sill.
After losing their dog, Mitchell and Smith received two $100 tickets for keeping vicious dogs, two $25 tickets for keeping unlicensed dogs and two $25 tickets for keeping unleashed dogs, but they say they intend to challenge the fines.
See complete coverage Thursday in The News Journal and at
www.delawareonline.com.