Officer shoots two dogs in LV home

Jace Radke

Wednesday, April 26, 2000 | 10:12 a.m.

A Metro Police officer shot two dogs, one fatally, Tuesday afternoon as the patrolman chased a Las Vegas man, who tried to flee from authorities by running into his house.

Police arrived on Bramblewood Street, near Spring Valley Parkway and Rainbow Boulevard, about 3:45 p.m. after getting a call that two neighbors were arguing, Metro Officer Tirso Dominguez said.

As the patrol car pulled up, the officer saw 34-year-old Fred Allen and a teenager in front of Allen's garage. Dominguez said Allen had drug paraphernalia with him and the officer believed some sort of drug activity was taking place.

"The man fled into his house and the officer followed," Dominguez said. "Once inside the house, a large dog attacked the officer, and the officer fired at it. About 10 seconds later another large dog came at him, and he fired another shot."

The dogs, named Choco and Bowser, are pit bull and German Shepherd mixed breeds, Dominguez said. Bowser walked out of the house on a leash and had only minor injuries, but Choco died from its wound.

Allen was arrested and charged with obstructing a police officer and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The name of the officer who shot the dogs will not be released for 48 hours, following Metro department policy. The officer was not placed on administrative leave.

Police detained five teenagers in the area and had as many as four of them handcuffed at one point. None of the teens was arrested, and police said the juveniles were handcuffed for safety reasons.

Police are unsure if a drug transaction was taking place between Allen and the juveniles, but they said Allen had pipes and other paraphernalia on him when he was spotted by the patrol officer.

Neighbors said that they had no complaints about the dogs, and that they were generally friendly.

"Sometimes they'd get lost and I'd help look for them," a 10-year-old neighbor said. "They were fun, and they even let me ride on them like they were horses."

Jace Radke is a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-2318 or by e-mail at jace@lasvegassun.com