Baltimore police shoot pit bull after it bites owner, charges officers

A pit bull was shot by Baltimore police and later euthanized after biting its owner and charging at officers in the Broening Manor neighborhood, police said. The incident unfolded just before 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, on the 6500 block of Hartwait Street when officers responded to a reported dog bite.

Four officers answered the call to the Hartwait Street home, and officers found the dog’s owner with an injured right hand, officials said. The unrestrained pit bull charged at one officer and, according to police officials, two other officers discharged their firearms. Officials said the officers struck the dog in the neck and that an officer was hit in the foot by a bullet that ricocheted during the exchange.

The wounded officer and the dog’s owner were transported to area hospitals for treatment. Police said both patients were later released. Baltimore City Animal Control responded to the scene, removed the dog and subsequently euthanized it, according to police statements about the response and disposition.

The Baltimore Police Department’s Special Investigations Response Team, SIRT, is investigating the shooting. Police have not released names, badge numbers or the number of rounds fired; SIRT customarily reviews use-of-force incidents and body-worn camera footage when available.

The shooting follows public attention to an earlier police-involved dog shooting on St. Paul Street. Accounts of that prior case differ: some reports place the St. Paul Street shooting last October while other accounts cite January. In that earlier episode a 33-year-old man, identified in reporting as Kyle Sharp, said officers “did what they were supposed to do” after his dog attacked and that “His pupils got very big, and it wasn't him,” remarks he made after the dog allegedly began attacking inside an apartment hallway. That incident drew scrutiny because the owner said the dog’s behavior changed after being neutered and treated with Trazodone.

City officials have not released an estimated timeline for SIRT’s review of the Hartwait Street shooting or whether body-worn camera footage will be made public. Outstanding official questions include confirmation of dispatch and arrival times, formal animal-control veterinary findings that documented the wound to the dog, and whether any charges or administrative actions will follow against the dog owner or the officers involved. SIRT investigators will determine whether department policy was followed in the decision to fire and in the subsequent euthanasia carried out by Baltimore City Animal Control.