No charges filed against man who shot neighbor's pit bulls

The Joplin Globe

April 08, 2006 12:53 am

— By Gary Garton
Globe Staff Writer
MIAMI, Okla. - District Attorney Eddie Wyant said Wednesday that he will not file criminal charges against a rural Quapaw man who shot and killed two of his neighbor's pit bulls.
Rocky Joe Jones, 56, called the sheriff's office last week and reported that he had just shot and killed two pit bulls belonging to Parks D. Foster, 22. Both men and their families live near the intersection of East 60 and South 630 roads, east of Quapaw.
In a statement to sheriff's deputies, Jones said he shot the dogs because they had attacked and critically injured a dog belonging to him on June 20. He said the animals were attacking a neighbor's dog when he shot them.
"In this particular instance, after a thorough investigation by the sheriff's office, I don't feel we have grounds for a prosecutable case against anyone," Wyant said.
"I really don't know what to tell people faced with a situation like that."
Counties are not empowered to pass or enforce rural animal-control ordinances.
According to Jones and his wife, Belinda, three pit bulls owned by Foster were in the habit of roaming up and down rural roads in the neighborhoods and were known to exhibit threatening behavior toward other dogs and humans.
Jones told deputies that on June 24, he found the two dogs harassing a young shepherd-breed dog belonging to another neighbor in the intersection of the two roads.
The dogs jumped on the side of his pickup toward the open window, Jones said, and he fired a .22-caliber pistol at them, hitting each dog three times in the head.
He said they did not seem to react to being shot with the small-caliber pistol, and they ran into Foster's yard adjacent to the road.
Jones told deputies that he then shot them with a .30-30-caliber deer rifle from his truck in the road as they stood near the front of Foster's house. Nobody was home at the time.
Jones could have been charged with discharging a firearm from a public road and shooting toward a dwelling place. The first is a misdemeanor, the second a felony.