Update
http://www.startribune.com/467/story/590905.html
Man snaps pups' necks, threatens to kill girlfriend
St. Paul police are looking for the man, who witnesses on the East Side said snapped the puppies' necks in front of his girlfriend during an argument with her.
Herón Márquez Estrada, Star Tribune
A St. Paul man who was arguing with his girlfriend killed 10 puppies in front of her by snapping their necks and then threatened to do the same to her, witnesses said Wednesday.
St. Paul police, who could cite the man for cruelty to animals, were looking for him Wednesday. They also were investigating alleged threats that witnesses said he made to his girlfriend Tuesday outside an East Side apartment complex.
On the basis of what witnesses said, police believe he may have killed the pups either because they weren't purebreds or to threaten his girlfriend.
"Until we find him we won't know," said Tom Walsh, St. Paul police spokesman.
The puppies, which were pit bull mixes, were said to have been born less than two weeks ago. They were killed about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday by their owner and then tossed one at a time into a large trash bin, witnesses told police.
Tiffany White said the man was arguing with his girlfriend, her mother and his brother.
"He was mad at his girlfriend and took it out on the puppies," White said. "I just wish somebody would catch him because what he did was wrong."
Monica Smith, who also witnessed the attack, said Wednesday afternoon that the man turned his anger on his girlfriend after killing the pups, telling her that if she didn't give him a ride, "I'll do to you what I done to the dogs.' "
What happened was despicable, said Janelle Dixon, executive director of the Humane Society for Companion Animals in Woodbury. She said that virtually any animal shelter would have taken the dogs or tried to place them.
She said that it is not unusual for animals to be caught in abusive domestic situations.
"There are instances where women in abusive situations will stay because they are afraid of what will happen to their pet," Dixon said.
Among the witnesses were several young children who live in the apartment complex, located near Johnson Parkway and McLean Avenue.
Witnesses said the argument started upstairs when the girlfriend refused to give the man and his dogs a ride home.
"The puppies were screaming," said Carroll Paynes, one of several residents who witnessed the killings. "You could hear their necks snap."
She and other witnesses said that after killing the puppies, the man walked away with his girlfriend and the mother dog. They drove off in a green car about 6 p.m.
Walsh said investigators talked to the girlfriend Tuesday night. "There is nothing that leads us to believe she is with him against her will," he said.
The suspect is described as a black man between ages 18 and 22, about 5 feet 8, with a slender build and long, braided hair. He was wearing a blue shirt with a yellow stripe and yellow lettering. Police also said he has eyes that are askew and a gap in his front teeth.
Paynes said she didn't believe at first that the man was going to kill the puppies. Once the killing started, she said, she went inside and grabbed two kitchen knives to try and stop him. Friends held her back.
"I was going out for him," Paynes said Wednesday, still shaken. "I'm an animal lover."
Herón Márquez Estrada • 651-298-1551
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/15183769.htm
Posted on Thu, Aug. 03, 2006
Why would a man brutally kill 10 pups?
Was it their breed? Was he mad at a girlfriend? It's unclear as he eludes arrest in St. Paul
BY MARA H. GOTTFRIED
Pioneer Press
One by one, a man plucked 10 puppies from a basket and snapped their necks or slammed them against the pavement.
He threw each lifeless dog into a garbage bin Tuesday night in the parking lot of a St. Paul apartment complex. Horrified onlookers cried and tried to stop him.
"The look on his face, it scared me," said Kimberly Brown, who was driving by with her 2-year-old daughter during the killings and stopped to ask the man whether she could take the rest of the puppies. "It's something I wish I would have never, ever seen, and I probably will never forget."
Police are still looking for the man, who a witness said might have killed the pit-bull-mix puppies because he was upset they weren't pure bred, said St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh.
Other witnesses said the man often argued with his girlfriend, who lives in the apartment building at 300 Johnson Parkway that was the scene of the killings. After he killed the puppies, he threatened to hurt his girlfriend as he had the animals, the witnesses said.
Domestic violence often goes hand-in-hand with animal cruelty, said Mike Fry, executive director of Animal Ark in Hastings, which bills itself as the largest no-kill shelter in the Twin Cities.
"The fundamental psychological problems of violence against animals and against humans is the same," he said. "It's really about control and dominance."
Police have talked to the girlfriend, but she isn't cooperating with them in finding the man, Walsh said.
The man had been outside the apartment building with his brother, a cousin, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's mother before the dogs were killed, witnesses said. They said he is the owner of a female pit bull who reportedly gave birth July 24.
When the dog was pregnant, 15-year-old Monica Smith's mother had inquired about buying a puppy for her. Another apartment building resident, Carroll Paynes, asked just before the killings how much to buy one.
The man came out Tuesday night carrying a plastic container that resembled a hamper with the litter of 10 puppies inside, witnesses said.
The girlfriend and the man's brother were trying to take the container away from the man, said Paynes, who said she watched from her balcony as the incident unfolded.
The man was apparently angry with his girlfriend, witnesses said.
"The girlfriend said, 'I'll take the puppies to Petco. You don't have to do this,' " said Smith, who also saw the killings from a balcony.
The man pushed the woman aside and stalked over to the garbage bin, witnesses said. Smith said the girlfriend's mother said: "He's not going to do anything, he just wants attention."
The teenager said she thought the man was going to throw the basket away. What happened instead was "so fast, we were just stunned," Smith said. "You could tell he was thinking whether he should do it or not. He held the first one up and looked at its face."
The Legislature passed a bill in 2001 that made serious cases of animal cruelty a felony.
"This is precisely the kind of case we were talking about," said Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "We had some of the weakest animal cruelty laws in the country. If you went out and deliberately killed your neighbor's pet, it was a misdemeanor."
Witnesses to Tuesday's killings said they hoped the man is caught and prosecuted.
Paynes briefly thought about exacting justice on her own. When she saw what was happening, she said she rushed inside to put on her shoes and to get a knife.
"I wanted to hurt him," she said, describing how she cried as it was happening. "I have a lot of sympathy for animals."
Paynes' mother took the knife away from her, she said.
When it was all over, the man and his girlfriend left, witnesses said.
Smith went to the garbage bin before police arrived to see whether any of the puppies were alive. Inside, the puppies were silent and still, except for one whose belly was moving, as if it was breathing. But they were all dead when police arrived.
"Why would someone do that to an animal?" Smith asked. "He didn't have to do that to those puppies."
Mara H. Gottfried covers St. Paul public safety. She can be reached at
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5262.
The suspect
Witnesses described the man who killed the 10 puppies as 18 to 20 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds. He is black, had long hair in braids, had a gap in his teeth and was said to have eyes that are askew. He was wearing a blue jersey with yellow letters. Police ask anyone with information to call 651-291-1111.
Giving up a pet
The Humane Society for Companion Animals will accept most animals for a $30 fee. The St. Paul shelter will not accept pit bulls, unless the owner OKs euthanasia. The Woodbury location accepts pit bulls. Some pet rescue groups will take pit bulls for a fee.
Humane Society
St. Paul: 1115 Beulah Lane, 651-645-7387
Woodbury: 9785 Hudson Road, 651-730-6008
Online:
www.petfinder.org/shelters/MN69.html
Pit bull rescue
Sanctuary Plus Rescue: 952-447-1941,
www.petfinder.org/shelters/splus.html
A Rotta Love: 651-649-4451,
www.arottalove.org
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© 2006 St. Paul Pioneer Press and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.twincities.com
and that's very sick of him doing that to 10 puppies! That means he dont have a heart for them!
I can understand how r u feeling towards cruel man did murder 10 puppies!
