Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.
A 60-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly killing one of his neighbor's dogs with a .22-caliber revolver and then pointing the gun at his neighbor.
About 9 a.m. Friday, Richard S. Kumler of the 8000 block of Penera Drive, near the Las Vegas Beltway and Windmill Lane, shot a boxer on his street.
Kumler told an officer that as he drove to work, he saw two dogs trying to get into a fenced front yard on Penera Drive.
The police report said the yard is surrounded by a 6-foot block wall with a 3-by-6-foot metal gate between the block wall and garage. Kumler said the dogs were scratching at the metal fence.
"He said that he did not know if the people who lived at this residence were home, but he had concern that the dogs were acting in an aggressive manner as they clawed at the gate," the police report says.
Kumler noticed there was a dog in the fenced yard and he thought the two dogs "wanted to be aggressive toward the dog that was in the fenced area," the report says.
He told police he went back home, got his gun and drove back to the house where the dogs were. He stood in the street and the two dogs turned and stared at him. One of the dogs appeared to have foam in his mouth, the report said.
Kumler shot the dogs three or four times from 4 to 6 feet away, killing one, the report says. Kumler said he thought the dog he killed was a pit bull, but it was a boxer.
Kumler told police the two dogs had attacked his dog in April, so he was trying to protect the dog behind the fence.
After police talked to more neighbors, they found that Kumler had allegedly pointed a gun at David Gurtner, 46, as he was driving away from the scene of the shooting.
According to police reports, Kumler shouted curses at Gurtner and threatened to shoot him.
"He apparently thought it was my dog," Gurtner said. "He told me point blank he was going to kill me next."
Luckily no children were on the street, Gurtner said. "One little boy, 4 or 5, had just gone into his house," he said.
The police report says the back window of a car had been shot out by flying bullets.
After shooting the dog, Kumler went home and locked up his gun, which police discovered is not registered. Kumler was charged for possession of the unregistered handgun, along with discharging a firearm in public and aiming a firearm at a person.
Kumler posted bail and was released Saturday.
Gurtner said he believes he knows what started all of this: His dog, Sierra, a golden labrador retriever and pit bull mix, had an encounter with Kumler's dog last spring.
Sierra got out of his fenced yard and ran down the street after another dog. Gurtner said he told Sierra to "lay down" and she did outside Kumler's fence. When Kumler's dog put its paw through the fence, Gurtner said Sierra snapped at it. When Kumler's dog pulled his leg back, the dog cut its leg on some bolts on the fencing.
Neighbors, who did not want to be identified, said that Kumler's dog was crippled and could not run after the attack. A pair of pit bulls have been running loose in the neighborhood for about a year and Kumler may have mistaken the boxer dog for one of them, they said.
Meanwhile, Gurtner's dog, Sierra, "has been afraid to come out of the back yard since March," Gurtner said.
In the past year, Gurtner said Kumler chased one of the pit bulls because he thought it was his dog.
Gurtner said he fears for his safety because Kumler "came right after me."
Sun reporter
Mary Manning contributed to this report.
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