Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003 | 7:35 a.m.
LAS VEGAS - A suspected prowler shot by Las Vegas police in a gated community intended to kill a Rottweiler that had mauled a neighbor's dog, authorities said.
Melvin Gilchrist, 26, who survived the Dec. 5 shooting, plotted with an accomplice, Ryan Schiestel, 25, to kill the animal in the back yard of a home in the upscale Summerlin section of Las Vegas, police said.
"It's probably one of the strangest cases I've worked in 24 years," said Las Vegas police Sgt. Mike Thompson.
Gilchrist was freed on bail Dec. 9 after being jailed on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. He was accused of approaching Officer Bryan Yant with a baseball bat and a butcher knife before he was shot in the hip.
Gilchrist and Schiestel face a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to maim, poison or kill another person's animal, police said.
Schiestel denied any wrongdoing.
Authorities said the plot to kill the Rottweiler came after the dog attacked and killed a 10-pound Italian greyhound on Dec. 4. Rosemary Sketchley-Deets said her 10-year-old son was walking the dog, named Sasha, when the Rottweiler attacked.
Sketchley-Deets said she does not know the two men. Thompson said police believe another neighbor angered by the attack told one of the men about it.
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